Picture Prompt Challenge
by Nostalgicmiss
Summary: A series of one shots that are linked to the pictures chosen on the blog: picprompt. blogspot. com . . . I have chosen Thursdays, so I hope you enjoy :
1. Week 1: The Turning Point

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 1**

Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 1**  
Title: **The Turning Point**

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The fog that hung in the air was freezing. It danced through the trees, the small beads of water clinging to the dead looking branches and trunks that seemed to surround me. The only shot of color seemed to come from the evergreens that danced in the light breeze that stirred the otherwise stagnant air.**  
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I knew I shouldn't be out here in this weather, I knew I should be back inside the house with everyone else as the quietly said their goodbyes, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't say goodbye to one of the people I had loved so unconditionally. The person who gave me life.

It seemed so bizarre that only five days ago she had dragged me to the mall with the promise of a movie afterward to make up for the twenty mile trek she was sure to take me on. Even more impossible was that I had been on the phone with her not three days ago laughing about her dog, Milo's, constant need to chase his tail.

Was I really laughing just three days ago? It felt like a lifetime.

My eyes, not really seeing, watched Milo wander around the trees looking just as sad as I felt. Dad had said he'd been looking for her since the accident happened. He searched the house, scratching at doors to see whether she lingered in one of the closed off rooms. When his search became fruitless the poor guy laid in his basket, waiting for her car to pull up, waiting for her scent to envelope him again. I knew how he felt, because it's how I felt. It was how I thought.

The thick tweed jacket of hers that I was wearing held that smell for me. It surrounded me and lingered in the fabric, seemingly releasing whenever my mind turned to her. It had been happening more and more since I'd been sat here. My rational thoughts attributed it to the dampness in the air that still managed to cling to me even under the umbrella I was holding, but my heart; my heart wanted to believe that she was here with me, saying her goodbyes.

A goodbye I never got to have.

It was all so senseless, so unnecessary. A drunken driver swerving into her car as he barreled along the tree lined, rain slick roads. She'd still been alive when Dad arrived on the scene, he was able to say goodbye. He called me at work, telling me where to go and to hurry. I was only half way there when called me to tell me she'd gone.

I pulled over to the side of the road and sat there staring at nothing in particular as the large fat tears rolled from my full eyes and dampened the blouse I'd bought when I went shopping with her not two days earlier.

I don't even know how long I was sat there. It wasn't until Edward tapped on my window, the bright lights of his squad car flashing against the darkened forest, that I realized the night had covered the haunting gray of the afternoon sky.

Edward pulled open my door, his long arms folding around me and pulling me into his chest. His hands brushing through my hair as he let me mourn. He knew what I needed, just like he always did. He never said a word, no words of consolation, no apologies for the senseless act, he just held me tighter than he ever had, holding me together as I fell apart.

I huddled deeper into my mom's jacket as another icy breeze licked the exposed skin. I was sat on our bench in our park, watching her dog like we had so many times before, only this time I was alone. I only had my memories of her to keep me company as I watched Milo searching for something he would never find in the winter stripped park by my parent's home.

"Bella, baby?"

I closed my eyes as my husbands velvet smooth voice washed over me. I knew it was hard for him to see me this way, to see me pull back into a shell I hadn't ever had around him. He was everything to me now, the white light at the end of a tunnel filled with the inky blackness of my devastation.

His hands, so warm and gentle, cradled my face as he tilted it to the direction of his. My eyes fluttered open and I let myself fall into the pools of his eyes and find the comfort I was so desperately seeking.

"Baby, it's freezing out here," he said, his soothing tones washing over me as the pads of his thumbs brushed the remaining tears from under my eyes.

"I know, I just couldn't . . . They all . . ."

"I know, I understand." He pulled my cold body against his, his hands releasing my face as they wrapped around my body. He was wearing his best suit, his leather jacket covering his top half. I could smell the leather as my cheek came to rest on his shoulder. It was another familiar smell to me, but one I could only connect with him. "I think your dad feels the same way. If another neighbor brings him a casserole I think he's going to snap."

I felt horrible, my dad, having had my mom around all of our lives, now found himself alone. Surrounded by things they had bought together in a house decorated by her. He hadn't touched anything since the accident. The book she'd been reading still lay on the arm of her chair, the bookmark holding the page for someone who could never return to finish it. A cup on the coffee table that still had her lipstick mark from where she'd drank from it.

I was so lost in my own mourning, I was neglecting him. How much this hurt him. How much this was going to destroy him. I needed to set my grief to the side and help him deal with his. I needed to be his rock while he let himself truly mourn. I had Edward to hold me at night I had Edward to kiss away the tears. Dad was alone.

I nodded against Edward's chest in an effort to show him I was ready to go on. Move forward like my mom would have wanted. He released me from the secure loving encasement of his arms and I stood up from the cold barren bench. I whistled once to get the attention of the dog my mom had loved like a second child as I tucked myself into the space under my husband's arm. The place I felt that I belonged, that felt like home.

The future was ahead of us, we all had to work together to ease this pain, but we would go on, and we would carry mom in our hearts with us. She was gone, there was nothing we could do about that, but I was comforted in the fact that she would never be forgotten.


	2. Week 2: Child's Play

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 2**

Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 1**  
Title: **Childs Play**

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Sitting with Alice and Rosalie on the park bench had become our Sunday ritual. It used to be we'd meet up for lunch in the city, dirty martini's as we talked about our lives.

We'd all been friends since college and our relationships hadn't diminished at all since we'd first met. Our meeting were admittedly only weekly now, but we still made an effort. Tuesday afternoons in the park and then dinner with the three of us and our significant others as Jane, my seventeen year old niece babysat the hoard of children. Not that she complained, she made quite a bit of money seeing as she got paid triple.

I guess our lives had started changing when we met our significant others. Rose was the first of us to get married and I don't think anyone doubted for a second it was going to happen once she fell in love with Emmett. He was different to her in so many ways, but he also leveled her out.

It was at their wedding that Alice met Rosalie's brother, Jasper. You could see the moment he asked her to dance that there was no turning back for her. Thankfully Rosalie had dressed us in the most beautiful dresses as her bridesmaids, so Alice looked even more stunning than usual.

I met Edward last, but much the same as my friends, I think I knew he was it for me. I loved him with every piece of my heart and soul, and when I fell pregnant, he didn't hesitate to ask me to marry him, and I certainly didn't have to think about saying yes.

All six of us were now good friends. When us girls had our usual Sundays, the boys would sit in Emmett's living room with whatever seasonal sport was playing at the time. Watching it on the huge flat screen while there were no women to nag them and no children to distract them, as they so kindly put it.

I couldn't imagine my life with out my five friends, and I was content.

The sun was warming the late June afternoon and I couldn't help but smile as my two kids ran around with their three best friends. Addie and Holly were now five and seven. Holly, five, had my brown curls and pale skin, but had Edward's perfectly straight nose and emerald green eyes. Addie, was seven going on seventeen. Her long bronze locks hung in tight spiral curls down her back. She'd inherited my brown eyes and button nose.

They were currently running in large circle with Caleb, Alice's pride and joy being only three. He was adorable with his ink black hair and blazing cerulean blue eyes and Hayden and Gabriella who were Rosalie's twins looked just like their father, dimples and all except with their mothers blonde hair and dazzling steel gray eyes.

"What are they doing?" Alice asked, hovering on her seat as Caleb fell to his knees. She only relaxed again when Addie helped him up and gripped his chubby little hand in hers.

"They're playing, Alice. There's no rhyme or reason to it," Rosalie ribbed, throwing her head back and laughing. "Anyone would think they were climbing trees the way you're behaving. They're in the middle of the grass running in circles. No danger."

"Shut up, Rose. You got a crash course having two at once. I still think that's cheating," I added, leaning forward to look past Rosalie. "Don't worry, Al, I was exactly the same way with Addie. She wobbled and I was out of my chair. With Holly is so much easier because I know how durable she is."

"It's not cheating," Rosalie scoffed, elbowing me in the arm.

Alice was uncharacteristically quiet, her eyes on the kids who were now stood still. All five of them were stood in a circle with their hands in the middle. I could hear the eldest of them, my bossy little Addie telling them to repeat after her.

"So the second one's really easier?" Alice asked watching with a smile as Addie folded over at her waist and gripped little Caleb's hand putting it under hers in the center of the circle.

"Everyone has to say it or it won't come true," Addie demanded looking directly at Hayden who was rolling his eyes at her. "On the count of three. Ready?"

"So much more because you know what to expect."

"One . . ." Addie shouted in chorus with the others.

"Well that's good," Alice said, her smile becoming broader.

"Two . . ."

"What are you talking about, Alice?" Rosalie demanded, giving Hayden a warning glance as he edged his hand from the group.

"Three!"

"I'm pregnant," Alice said as the kids behind her shouted "friends forever" at the top of their lungs.

Rosalie and I sprung to our feet squealing with joy.

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**A/N: Thank you to everyone for the reviews. We've been having fun on the blog, there's no pressure at all. You could write 3 words to 10,000 if you like. It's all about what you see in the picture. If you would like to join us, please feel free. Thanks to Hev99, Bendingmirrors and Kimmydon.**


	3. Week 3: Endless Dream

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 3**

Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Both**  
Title: **Endless Dream  
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It was the same every night, the sea air that seemed to keep the birds gliding in mid air as they screamed out their constant dissent. The light always white, always blinding kept me in the shadows, him in the forefront but we still reached for one another. Hoping - always so full of hope as we reached across the fissure of rocks. Fissure was an understatement, it was so much bigger than that. It felt like a whole lifetime away, but I was too afraid to look down.

The breeze licked around me, my hair wrapping around my throat as though it were trying to cut off any oxygen getting to me, but I could breathe.

I was calling his name, but my voice had no volume, just gentle sighs replacing the lilting vowels and consonants. I felt as though I was losing him, the void between us growing and crumbling as it fell into the silent crashing waves below us. Everything was so muted because he was there.

He was there.

The light, brighter than anything else surrounding me was ebbing as though dancing to it's own song. A silent song that seemed to match the beat of my heart. It picked up as my fear became palpable, it breathed it's own breaths through my mouth as I realized I was losing him for good.

This was where it always turned, this was where the light and the darkness bled together to show me the picture I refused to see. I didn't know why I continued to shout and scream at the man that was lit up like a beacon in front of me. His hand was still reaching for me, but his head was turning to the light, the small smile growing into an angelic smile on his full familiar lips.

I wanted to be able to call out his name so he would look at me, but the muted sound that fell from my lips didn't carry over the growing distance between us. It was then that I tried to move, tried to step forward into the light with him so he wouldn't leave me. I couldn't move though, my feet were like lead weights melted to the spot that held me away from him against my will.

Panic became my only companion in the cold shadow of his glorious light. I knew what this was, I knew what was transcending before my eyes. There was never any stopping it, I knew it the moment his arm fell to his side. He gave me one last look, his eyes full of sorrow but not for himself. No, I can see the sorrow is reserved for me as I stand welded to the spot screaming silence at him.

Everything went silent, the birds, the muted sound of the ocean and even my breaths. Even my own thoughts left me as his lips parted for the first time.

"Don't give up, baby. Live, live your life everyday. I'll be waiting for you."

A solitary tear ran silently down my cheek as my throat closed over with my silent sobs. I wanted to scream don't leave me, I wanted to scream take me with you. Conflicting emotions tearing apart my heart like the expanse that lay between us.

I wake up screaming, finding my voice as the gasps of air filter down past the lump in my throat. I know it won't belong before my bedroom door is thrown open and my best friend comes stampeding in here. She does every night because I wake up like this every night.

I see the light before I hear her footfalls and I try to regain my breath and sanity in the darkness of my room, but it's no use. His name is still on my lips, his face still behind my eyelids, his voice ringing in my ears.

"Jo, are you alright?" Jennifer asks as she reaches my bed and perches on the edge.

Am I alright? Will I ever be alright? For now I shake my head, because I am so far from sanity I'm scared. He's gone, he's been gone for three months and yet the nightmares plague me every night. They never change, they never fail. They are the one constant in my life.

"He's gone," I say my voice breaking as the restraint completely crumbles and I let go. My body folds in half as my heart tears into pieces of shattered lifeless shards. I can feel the hole in my chest just as sure as I can feel Jennifer's hands brushing the raven strands of hair down my back.

Jennifer is silent as I fall apart. She knows there's nothing she can say that will fix this. Yes, he is gone, but I should have been more prepared, I knew the risks, I knew the pain that would come if the treatment failed, yet I had wanted to be his strength, the shoulders to carry his burden so he could concentrate on getting well again.

Even with the burden I had accepted, it had not happened. His body had rejected the treatment and they gave him only weeks to survive, yet I foolishly held on to hope as though it were my right, as though I could create my own divine intervention because I loved him so much.

I would never regret those years we had together. He taught me how to love, how to live and see each new day as something to be cherished. I lived for him, and only him now. Fighting the pain that would make it so easy to give up, so I could do the things we always talked about doing together.

Jen picks me up from the bed as my sobs subside. I know what we're going to do, mainly because it was my idea to begin with.

"You ready to put this away tonight?" she asks me, knowing that this is the only time I allow myself to grieve. I nod my assent as she sits me at the small writing desk.

I tear a small piece of paper from the notebook and write the words I write after I breakdown. It's the only words I know to use. It's the words that say everything for me because I know this isn't what he would want me to do.

I'm sorry.

Jenn does her part and takes the picture to put in the album with the rest of the pictures. I will continue to breathe for him, I will do everything on the life list he wrote for me. All but one demand will be fulfilled on that thing. Jen kisses my forehead before pushing me back to bed and encouraging me to sleep and that tomorrow is another day.

Left in the darkness I whisper goodnight to the man I know will wait for me. The man that I love.

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**A/N: Thank you to everyone for the reviews. We've been having fun on the blog, there's no pressure at all. You could write 3 words to 10,000 if you like. It's all about what you see in the picture. If you would like to join us, please feel free. Thanks to Hev99, Bendingmirrors, Kimmydon and Miss-Beckie-Louise.**


	4. Week 4: The Smell of The Past

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 4  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 1**  
Title: **The Smell of The Past**

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"You don't have to do this," he said, his voice thick with the conviction of his words.

I knew that it wasn't necessary, the fire marshal had already been and found the root of the problem. That was the problem with a house like ours, it may have been beautiful, but it was old. The wiring in the drawing room had tripped out and sparked the fire taking everything with it.

The water was dripping from the door frame still. Thirty six hours and it was still drenched. It was heartbreaking to see the charred licks around it, cutting into the white siding like the finger of death himself.

I resigned myself to the fact that I wanted to see the damage for myself though.

"I know, but I feel like I need to. I need to see for myself."

"It's not pretty."

"I wouldn't think for a second it could be," I mumbled, stepping forward and through the frame.

I could smell the fire everywhere as black stains coated all of the walls, it had gone so quickly I had only managed to grab our wedding portrait on the way out. Now I was looking at the aftermath, I was beginning to wish I had tried harder. Stuck around to take some of the memories with us.

"Be careful, the floor burned through in places. We shouldn't wander in too deep."

I nodded, mainly because I couldn't find the words to pass around the gargantuan lump in my throat. I could see have burned pictures sitting on the mantle, the photo paper bubbling from the heat and cooled rapidly by the water.

All those memories gone.

I closed my eyes and envisioned what had been there. The first frame on the far left had been a photo from our honeymoon. No more was there the beautiful aqua marine water and the white sand beaches of the British Virgin Islands, Edward and I had been smiling broadly while lazing in a hammock that was held by two of the palm trees there.

The second frame in, was a family Christmas. It was the last one his grandmother had been alive for, so we had kept it there. His brothers and sisters smiling out with their husbands and wives. It was one of my favorites because we'd all been caught of guard when the timer went off. The smile and laughter captured in the moment was real and genuine.

The middle had simply held the vase I had bought on our honeymoon. The right side, my heart bled, our two kids baby pictures. They were gone. Not just these but all of them. Gone.

I made my way to the shelves where I kept the family photo albums, hoping to salvage something, but I was stopped by the sight that greeted me.

"Oh no," I wept, turning to Edward with my hand over my mouth. "Baby, your Steinway."

"It's okay," he whispered, his hands wrapping around my waist as his lips brushed the top of my head. "It can be replaced."

No. It couldn't. It was a gift passed down from generation to generation from his great grandfather. There was no replacing the sentimentality of the beautiful piano. I shook my head and felt his arms tense around my stomach, my eyes fogging up with tears as the once ivory keys now lay stained and broken.

"Baby," he whispered. "We're all alive, I can replace stupid shit like televisions and piano's; but I can never replace any of you. As long as we have each other it's not a disaster. Please, don't cry."

I turned in his arms and lay my head against his shoulder. I loved him with every part of who I was. His words had haunted me to my very soul and I knew that he was right. Material possessions could be replaced, the pictures - his parents had duplicates of almost all of them and I was sure the rest could be salvaged from the hard drive. The rest were memories we already had stored in our precious minds. As long as we had each other we could go on.

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog, and a huge welcome to Miss-Beckie-Louise, who will have her first post this week. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!**


	5. Week 5: The Hunt

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 5  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 2**  
Title: **The Hunt**

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My eyes danced over the weaving path as though it were made of brimstone. It wasn't offensive, it had nothing wrong with it, but my senses seemed to kick into overtime regardless. The hairs on the back of my neck seemed to lurch from their home and pull me back from the direction I was pointed in.

"It's safe, baby," Edward whispered, his arms wrapping around my waist as he pulled me back against his chest. "What's worrying you?"

Was the foreboding a ghost of my human panic? There was fog closing in around the trees making it look ominous, and then the silence of the birds gave off an eerie feeling. Thankfully though, my mind clicked into mind over matter the moment I picked up a faint sign ahead in the distance.

I let my senses push out; the scent of four or five deer were ahead, there was a stream beyond that where there was a bear drinking. At least I thought so until the adrenal glands shot into overdrive . . . it was being threatened by a mountain lion. At least there was not a human within a five mile radius.

"I know it's a public trail, but it's about to snow, I can taste it. No one would be stupid enough to come out here."

"I know," I grinned, forgetting the feeling of complete dread as my feral nature stepped in. I knew he was thinking about me so there was no way in hell he would have picked up the large game. I had to stretch it as it was. "Race you?"

"To where?"

I pointed to the west where the faint heartbeats of the deer seemed to thunder into a louder existence. I was guessing the show down between bear and lion was about to get ugly, which meant that it was getting louder.

"Listen, do you hear it?"

Edward's eyelashes brushed against his cheek alerting me to the fact that his eyes were now closed. His fingers brushed in light circles over the flesh of my stomach calming me as his ears found the source for himself. I knew the moment he could hear it, I could hear him swallowing as his favorite prey stalked around by the stream. A light growl brushed through him and his hands tensed and released over my body.

"Race you there," I giggled, pulling his hands from my waist and shooting forward with a burst of speed. "But I get the bear."

The vibrations of my voice trailed behind me with my speed. I could hear Edward's footfalls catching me quickly so I dug my feet into the bracken deeper and pushed harder. I was regaling in the divine pleasure of my muscles tightening and relaxing as I shot through the trees with an accuracy I had never possessed before in my human life.

The push and pull between rationality and instincts felt so good as they battled with one another for dominance. The air was licking at my skin and tangling at my hair, it felt like a million different fingers massaging my body. The smells all filled me with locations and pin points of anything that could be a danger to me, yet my mind was still sharply focused on what was ahead.

I pushed harder at the source of my burning thirst.

The closer I got, the louder the growling quest for domination became. I hoped they wouldn't attack yet because Edward hated tainted food, and if I was being honest so did I. The animal's blood was earthy enough as it was without the added taste of the oxygen infiltrating the vein.

The blood of the larger of the two animals was beating around the body in double time as it tried to protect whatever it was hunting, but the growl of the cat was showing just how hungry he was too. This close I could hear the pads of their feet on the bracken, the claws digging into the earth releasing not only the scratching sound but the smell of the freshly released earth.

I locked in on the bear, listening to the wet thump of it's great heart as I lowered into my attack crouch. There was only a couple hundred feet left and Edward was overtaking me. There was no competition though, I knew what he was going for, and we were both driven by our thirst now, ignoring the gauntlet that had been thrown down at the beginning..

Using a tree as leverage, I kicked off it and took to the air. The smell of bears blood was making my mouth pool with the venom I would need to incapacitate it. Edward had already landed on his prey and if I'd had time I would have stopped and watched; his hunting was a thing of beauty. Instead, I landed on the back of the bear and sunk my teeth into it's neck, giving it no time to react.

The hot, pure liquid filled my mouth and slid down my throat like silk, filling my stomach with the sustenance I had been craving. Everything else was blocked out as I drank deeply, draining the life of the beast I had taken down. The only sound I focused on was the beating of the animal's heart, but it was fading; each thump slower and slower as the life drained from its large body. I pulled back before the heart stopped completely and rested my head on the animals back, my fingers running gently over the fur as it's life drained from it completely.

I hated the death, I hated that something had to die so brutally to satiate my thirst. This was me honoring the animal for the gift it had given me. His breath stuttered before releasing a final time and I let my fingers brush through the strands one last time before picking it up from the undergrowth.

Edward relieved me of my load and placed the animal with his own before covering our trail again. I closed my eyes and listened, the scent of snow was growing stronger and it would only be a matter of time before the soft sigh of the flakes falling would fill the forest.

"You're beautiful," Edward said as he stepped up to me, his hands running over my back as he pulled me to him. I loved this part, I loved having him touch me with the hunger he'd already exhausted with his prey, a hunger he reserved for just me. "Watching you hunt . . ."

"I know the feeling," I hummed, my hands running over his muscles gently. I knew what he wanted and I knew what I was going to take.

In one gentle push I had him up against a tree, my hands under his sweater as my lips found his. This was my favorite part about the hunt. The carnal need, the wanting, the aching and the taking.

Edward let out a growl and span us quickly, my back slammed against the bark, his hands pushed my wrists over my head as his feet kicked mine apart. If I'd had a beating heart, this would have been the point it exploded in my chest.

Life was good.

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog, and a huge welcome to Anythingzombie, burntcore and Amelie Gray. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!**


	6. Week 6: Somnium

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 6  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Both**  
Title: **Somnium**

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The material of the red dress clung to my body as though it was made for me. It was made of a thin sheer fabric that flowed with every step I made, dancing in the the light whispers of the wind as it touched my body and danced around the border it created.

The ballet slippers had me on my toes, my legs extending gracefully as I sprang over the rock formations with ease. I could feel every indentation and smooth rise of the boulder beneath me as I closed my eyes.

Pushing up onto my toes, I could feel the chill in the air that surrounded me, I could smell the brine from the sea. The only noise was the slap from the oars of a row boat that passed by lazily about a hundred feet from where I was stood, so it was easy to find my concentration as I let the song replay in my memory.

"Are you ready?" he asked, the impatience in his tone making my eyes snap open.

His body was perfectly rigid, the lines of his muscles defined as the wind pushed his shirt against his body. His thighs rippled as he poised in position. He rubbed his hands together once and clapped them to gain my attention.

"Ah, you're getting ahead of yourself, babe," he grinned, his eyes capturing mine. "Up here first, the rest comes later. You have to trust me."

"I do trust you," I whispered, falling back onto my heels gracefully.

"Prove it."

I nodded, extending my right leg in front of me.

"Now."

I took off in a dancers run, the dress wrapping around my thighs as I closed in on him. Every touch of my foot against the solid surface blow guided me into his waiting arms. We'd done this at least twenty times, and I had choked all but once, and that time we'd almost ended up in the freezing water.

His eyes, holding mine, gave me confidence as the muscles in my legs coiled to spring.

Pushing up from the ground I extended my legs and pointed my toes, his hands gripped my waist and hoisted me into the air, my legs scissored into a perfect V before coming together to make me more aerodynamic. As I became horizontal over him, my body arched gently, my head and legs higher than my torso where his strong hands gripped me.

The wind was slightly stronger in this angle, it brushed over my body moving my hair around my face, framing the smile of success there. I'd done it, I'd finally managed to pull it off without hurting him or myself.

He lowered me slowly from the position, my legs balancing my body. As soon as I was level with him, my hands gripped his shoulders and his arms circled my waist pulling me flush against his body.

"I knew you could do it," he laughed, his lips brushing mine as my body slid down his. "Now for your prize."

As my feet touched the ground his lips pushed against mine with more fervor. Our bodies were so close together I could feel just how excited he was. The rush of excitement tripled as I wrapped my arms around his neck and held me to him. This was what I had been waiting for. This was my reward, and it was worth the twenty or so times I had failed miserably.

His mouth covered mine, his soft lips forming around my own as his tongue slipped into my mouth. I moaned against him again, my hands tangling in his hair. His hands gripped my ass and dragged me up his body until my legs closed around him and locked at the ankles.

All of the air was gone from my lungs, but I was so lost in him that it didn't really matter. His mouth worked in tandem with mine as our tongues battled for dominance. He pulled away slowly and smiled at me. He kissed my nose and the apples of my cheeks before lowering me to the ground.

"Again," he growled, the noise was feral rolling around me like thunder. If this was the result of success, I would do it over and over again until I could get what I wanted.

I stepped out of his embrace and nodded coyly, dancing back to the beginning spot where I would take off. I popped onto my toes and fell back to my heels a couple of times to ready myself. His eyes hungrily watched the muscles in my legs stretch and tighten before they moved up my body to capture my eyes.

"Ready?"

I nodded and started out again, but when I sprang for his arms I overshot the mark and the two of us fell toward the icy water. A scream fell from my lips as we sailed through the air.

"Press the button," he shouted from under me, I looked down at him not understanding what he was asking as time slowed. He nodded to something beside me and mouthed _Press the button._

A huge red button sat next to me, falling with me. In bold, white letters it spelled out HELP.

I smashed my hand down on it, a loud buzzing came out, it filled my mind, infiltrating my consciousness.

"Nobody puts baby in a corner."

I opened my eyes and let them adjust to the warm glow of the room around me. My television was playing the last scene from dirty dancing. Patrick Swayze was holding out his hand to Jennifer Grey with that smile of his.

My hand went to my forehead as the other searched for the remote. I hated that the dream had ended that way, and although I had never danced a day in my life, for a brief second I had felt graceful.

And the man.

The man had been beautiful.

I rolled onto my side and let my hand rest on the warm muscles of the man of my dreams. He may not have been a dancer, but he was mine, and I loved him with every ounce of who I was.

"You okay?" he mumbled, his head turning so he could see me.

"Yeah I just realized something."

"What's that?" he asked, his voice still thick with sleep.

"I'm married to the man of my dreams."

Even though his eyes were closed, his smile shone through. Without conscious thought he moved toward me, pushing me on my back as his body hovered over mine.

"You sure know how to get my attention," he grinned.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

His lips crushed against mine as his hands found the hem of the shirt I was wearing. Dreams were good, but sometimes, waking up was so much better.

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog, and a huge welcome to Anythingzombie, burntcore and Amelie Gray. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!**


	7. Week 7: Come Back to Me

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 7  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Both**  
Title: **Come Back To Me  
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**NOTE:** Unbeta'd I'm afraid and I am a little unhappy I think it needs more work!

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Time, it moves so slowly when you're waiting for something to happen, but the moment you want it to stop, to give you more, it motors on regardless.

We'd both been so young when he was drafted, his birthday picked by chance by a collection of politicians who could have cared less for the boys picked. Boys. That was the point, all of them so young; sent out to fight in a war that they had wanted nothing to do with.

I remember the day perfectly, it was a summers day, we'd been in the park ignoring what we knew was being televised around the country. We didn't want to know if he'd been picked because it would make everything too real. The pictures they showed on the television were so full of violence that even having to think about what was going to happen was just too much.

"Edward, Edward!" Mrs. Cullen's voice had been frantic as she'd run down the embankment that led to the lake we were sat beside. Her usually perfectly designed hair falling out of the neat arrangement and trailing behind her like honey colored fire.

My heart sank the moment I heard her voice because I knew, I knew the news she was coming to deliver.

"No," I whispered, my mouth drying and palms sweating. "No, not you."

Edward's arms enclosed me in a tight grip, his breath was quiet and shallow as he swallowed his own emotions to comfort me. It shouldn't have been this way. I should be the one comforting him.

"Edward," Esme cried, falling to her knees and wrapping her arms around us. "Not my baby. God, please, not my baby."

My blood ran cold regardless of the heated summer air. My skin pebbled with the goose flesh that pushed my heart into my throat. I wanted to scream, I wanted to take him and run across the Canadian border like so many others did, but I knew he would leave with me. I knew he would honor the commitment the government had given him.

Esme stayed with us on that embankment for hours, simply looking out onto the lake her eyes shimmering with the constant flux of tears she'd been shedding since she'd found us. I had bitten my sobs back and tried with everything I could to stay strong for the man I loved.

"Bella," he whispered, his deep green eyes full of emotion. "Marry me, give me a reason to come home, give me a reason to stay alive, give me a reason to breathe."

"Yes," I answered without any thought. Esme's choked sob filled the silence following my answer as I stared at him stunned. I was eighteen years old, my whole life in front of me. Yet it was a life I had always planned with him, never had I once looked into the future and imagined it without him in it. It was simply natural of me to answer so immediately, because it's what I had always wanted.

Edward's arms closed around me and crushed what little breath in my lungs out of them. His breath was hot on my shoulder as his body shook against mine.

"I love you," he whispered, his lips finding the column of my neck as he ignored his mom's presence in this intimate moment.

"And I you."

He pulled away briefly to find my eyes again, but I knew what he would find there. I was decided. A hundred percent decided on this and there was no talking me out of it.

"Mom?" he whispered, my favorite smile breaking out on his lips. "How do you feel about planning a wedding? I want to be married before I ship out."

"Edward, that's . . ."

"Plenty of time," he finished, the pleading in his voice making my heart bleed.

"I'll get started now," Esme whispered, leaning forward to kiss the top of his head, before taking a deep breath and composing herself. We both watched her stand and turn toward the embankment with a loaded breath.

I had wanted more time with him, I hadn't wanted time to speed up and take away the moments we cherished with one another. Instead, our days were filled with him, going into the city for his physical and then getting his letter to report, and preparing to leave and me getting fitted for dresses and going through minute details.

Every chance we got we sneaked away from the chaos of war and weddings, we held one another in silence, our fingers exploring the others face and body as we memorized the lines and planes of the other. He was imprinted into my mind after that, when I closed my eyes at night I clung to his face as it danced behind my lids, even though he was still with me, I needed that, I needed him.

We were married the day before he shipped out, both of us were nervous, but not because of what we were doing together, but what came after that. The leaving. It scared me most of all because I would be safe, but he would not. He was going to war where guns were fired and bombs detonated. Soldiers came home in boxes everyday, but they continued to send more out, risking more lives.

Our vows were short and from the heart, both of us had poured everything we meant to one another into the words that would be spoken for our family and friends to hear. Such a happy event, but it was tainted with the what if's, the sadness of what would follow.

We danced into the night and left silently without letting hardly anybody know. Edward had feared the goodbyes, and I had promised him I would save him the burden of the ones he needed to say. Esme and Carlisle were waiting in the house with mom and dad. They were the only four that would know we were leaving so early and each of them understood why.

Our first night as a married couple would be the last night together for a while.

The tears were thick, the emotions heady as each of our parents embraced him with love. He promised to write to them so they would know he was alright and they in turn promised to keep me safe from harm while he was gone. My heart broke with every embrace, my eyes clouded with every utterance of love and fear.

They waved at us as Edward and I climbed in his car and drove toward the hotel by the train station. From there he would go and report to the barracks. A sob broke through my chest as we drove past the station and pulled up at the hotel.

"Don't think about it tonight, love. Tonight, it's me and you. Tonight we're Mr. and Mrs. Cullen."

I nodded and swept the tears from my eyes as the music poured from the hotel and into the night. _Creedence Clearwater Revival's Lookin' out my back door_ was blaring as the voices from the bar rose and fell in lilting whispers.

"We've got another one," someone shouted from the door, stumbling from the hotel with a beautiful blonde under his arm. Her white dress fell to the floor, her hair in simple ringlets hung over her shoulders as her red rimmed eyes washed over me.

"Emmett, you fool, they're stood four feet in front of you. There's no need to shout," she rolled her eyes and wavered on the spot. "You two get hitched tonight too?"

I nodded, knowing exactly how this girl in front of me felt.

"Well, if you want my advice, bypass the party, free beer to all those shipping out and it's not a pretty sight. I'm Rosalie Ha . . . McCarty actually now I've gone and married this big oaf."

"Oaf? Woman who are you calling an oaf?"

"You, Emmett," she laughed, her long fingers stroking his face. "Now, are you gonna take me to bed? I'm pretty sure Mr. and Mrs. . . ."

"Cullen," Edward said, his hand squeezing my waist tightly.

"Cullen, have the same plans as we do," she grinned.

We said goodnight as politely as possible and headed to our room. Neither of us slept though, we made love all night, our sweaty bodies becoming one every chance we had. He took me until I screamed his name, he took me again and made a mantra of my name. All night neither of us closed our eyes. Even as we held one another shivering, our eyes drank in the others form until we could no longer resist the space between us.

By the time dawn loomed on the horizon, both of us were fighting for breath; our bodies damp and tangled in the sheets.

We showered together, taking our time to run our hands over the rises and falls of the others body. I knew every indentation of muscle on his stomach, the feel of his slick skin on mine. The width of his shoulders, everything was stored in my memory and I swore that if anything was different when he got back into my arms, I would get the retribution myself.

In his uniform, he was beautiful. The olive color brought out the green in his eyes and highlighted the sadness that emanated from them. We walked slowly to the platform, me in the same stupid wedding dress because I had forgotten to take anything with me.

"I feel like an idiot," I mumbled, walking toward the station holding his hand as though I would fall apart without it.

"You look beautifully, baby. This is how I want to remember you."

I could feel the blush rise in my cheeks, I knew how I would remember him, and I knew that I would long for him in the same way until he returned to me.

"Give me one minute, I'll be right back," he whispered, his lips pressing into my temple.

I gave him one nod and wandered down the platform trying to ignore the hollow feeling that swept through me. There were couples all along the side of the train, embracing and saying goodbye. I saw Rosalie and Emmett close to the end, both of them tangled against one another, so close their bodies looked as though they were one.

I understood that need to be close. It was like a second nature to me now, and I couldn't stop my fingers tangling in the delicate layers of my dress as they waiting to be against Edward again. _How could I survive without him?_ I'd thought. It had been five endless minutes and I was already a mess.

I paced back and forth, my eyes scanning the crowd of olive green uniforms amongst the myriad of colors of the people clinging to them. Where was he?

A hand appeared from the trains door beside me, a small but beautiful bouquet of my favorite long stemmed daisies were clasped it, shaking slightly. Some petals toppled from the flowers, but I couldn't help my smile, he knew me so well.

"Thank you," I whispered, taking them from him and holding them against my heart. "They're beautiful."

Edward stepped from the carriage of the train and wrapped his arms around me, my body bowing against his as his lips once again found mine. I drowned in him, knowing this would be the last time I would kiss him before he left. There was already an announcement about the departure of the train and I couldn't stop my nails digging into his shoulders in an attempt to keep him with me.

"I love you, Isabella Cullen, Forever and always."

"I love you, Edward Cullen."

He released me as someone brushed past us, his lips swept over mine too briefly as he stepped back into the carriage of the train. I couldn't do this, I couldn't let him go.

"I love you," he mouthed, his smile sad.

"I love you more," I mouthed back.

The doors slid closed between us and I fought the urge to scream and hammer my fists against them. I couldn't let him see the pain, I needed to be strong for him.

A set of arms closed around my shoulders and I looked up to see Rosalie fighting the pooling tears with a bright smile and an unwavering wave. We were in the same situation, her and I, and as soon as I saw Emmett step up beside Edward and clap him on the shoulder I knew I would cling to her. She would be the only one to understand my sullen moods and pain.

The train pulled out of the station, rather than running along beside it, my arms wrapped around Rosalie's waist. We stood there in silence until the sound of the train had faded, the crowd dispersed from around us but we held our place.

The station was completely empty before either of us said a word.

"I hate this," Rosalie sniffed, her free hand brushing her golden hair back over her shoulder. "I hate that he's going to do something he doesn't believe in. I hate that he had no choice. This isn't democracy."

"I know," I whispered, releasing her waist and picking up the hand that had just released my shoulders. "Rosalie, do you think we could possibly have coffee?"

"Yes, I would love to. Let's go to my room and get you some clothes first," she smiled, tugging my hand and leading me from the station.

After that we had coffee twice a week and talked on the phone often. She had become a good friend to me, and like I had assumed, she was the only one that could talk me out of panic and black moods when there was no correspondence from Edward or Emmett.

We leaned on one another, both of us accepting the weight because we bore the same burden. The television showed more horrific pictures by the day, Rosalie and I would spend more and more time together as the weeks rolled into months.

More often than not I would spend the evenings in the bar she sang at, sipping on a sweet drink Rosalie had always favored. We were the best of friends, and it was easy to see from the letters Emmett and Edward had built a similar friendship between them.

It was almost eight months to the day that he'd left. One of the rare occasion I was at home in the empty house Esme had helped me find for rent while he was away. I was cleaning up, dusting around the house because I kept the windows open.

The knock at the door was brutal. My eyes moved to the window and I could see that it was an official military vehicle. My knees buckled but I caught myself on the back of the couch. I breathed in a couple of times before heading to the door.

Pulling it open I tried to keep my face a calm mask, inside i screamed. Longed for this to not be what I knew it could be.

"Mrs. Edward Cullen?" The solemn soldier asked, his face an emotionless mask.

"Yes, that's me," I choked out around the lump in my throat.

He started talking to me, shoving a envelope in my hand. He gave me a sad nod and turned around to leave. Nothing he'd said registered and the paper in my hands felt like a hundred pounds of weight rather than the mere ounces.

I stumbled back into the house and fell into the couch, leaning forward to put the envelope on the table. I stared at it for hours, calling Rosalie to come to me. I couldn't open it alone, not knowing what was inside.

Rosalie arrived as darkness swept over everything in my home. I knew I should call Esme, but I didn't have the strength to comfort her yet. I needed time, I needed to know.

"Bella," Rosalie walked in without a knock with had become common place for us, she fell onto the couch next to me her shaking hands picking up mine.

"Can you . . ." I stuttered, my wet lashes dancing on my cheeks. "Can you read it for me?"

Rosalie nodded one and leaned forward to pick up the envelope. Her trembling hands separated the the edge and pulled out the thin sheet of paper. Her eyes scanned the page and she blew out her breath making her cheeks swell with the effort.

"He's alive, Bella he's alive. He's in the military hospital in California. He's been injured, but he's alive." She shoved the paper into my hand and rubbed my back. My eyes scanned the sheet and tears of relief fell from my cheeks.

"I have to go to him," I whispered, my voice a hoarse whisper.

"Of course," Rosalie laughed, her hands tangling through my hair. "Come on I'll help you pack."

An hour later I was on a train waving to Rosalie and Edward's parents as the train pulled out of the station. I was restless the entire journey, I needed to pace. It had said he was injured, but alive. There was no explanation of his injuries either and I had to prepare myself to see him broken.

The journey seemed to last a lifetime, when the train finally pulled into the station I heaved my bags from the car and dragged it from the station, climbing into a taxi and giving him my destination. I could see the guys sad nod of understanding as he drove toward the hospital. He kept his silence, but i could see that he wanted to reassure me in some way.

The darkness made it impossible to see anything, but the lights of the hospital popped up in the inky darkness like a beacon of hope. I paid the driver and stepped out, rushing toward the doors knowing I was close to seeing him, so close.

I barged into the reception area and sprinted toward a nurse who was sat behind a desk.

"I'm sorry visiting hours are . . ."

I was not accepting no for an answer.

"I received a telegram about my husband today, I've been traveling for hours and I want to see him now."

"I'm sorry, but . . ."

"Now." I insisted, brushing my hands through my wild tangled hair.

"One moment please."

She raised her eyebrows at me as she picked up a phone, I backed away giving her some privacy. If I was denied entrance I would act anyway. I would force my way into the hospital to see him because my mind wouldn't rest until I saw those green eyes.

"What's your husband's name?"

"Edward Cullen."

She went back to the phone and spoke quietly before sighing and hanging up.

"Okay, Mrs. Cullen . . ."

She gave me direction and let me through the doors to the back. My feet hammered against the linoleum until I found the room I required. I pushed against it and stepped inside a large ward. Men were groaning in pain as nurses flitted through them trying to ease their burdens. Soft voices and whispers of machines filled the air as I scanned the beds for Edward.

He was all the way in the back, propped up in bed, his eyes closed.

I ran to him, gaining disapproving glares from the nurses as I weaved through the beds and machinery. I didn't care though, I wanted to see him awake, I wanted to see his eyes meet mine.

I stopped beside the bed, my eyes surveyed his body for injuries.

"Bella?" his voice, liquid silk and hoarse with pain danced over my skin as I let my eyes meet his.

"Hi baby," I smiled, leaning over the bed and capturing his lips with mine.

"Is this a dream?"

"No," I shook my head the tears tumbling over the lids and staining my cheeks. My hands caressed his cheeks, my thumbs brushing over the apples of his cheeks. "What happened?"

Edward explained quietly about an ambush, his words were broken and spread out as he winced with pain. He'd taken a bullet, two inches to the right and it would have been deadly.

"I'm sorry, you had to see me like this," he whispered, his hand reaching for mine.

"I love you," I sighed. "You brought yourself home to me, never apologize for that."

His eyes closed, and tears ran down his face. I knew he was haunted by the memories of what he'd seen, haunted by a bloody battle that almost killed him. I would get us through this, I would help him forget with time. Yet, I would never forget the fulfillment of this promise.

He'd come back to me.

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!**


	8. Week 8: Sole Al Pomeriggio

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 8  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 2**  
Title: **Sole al pomeriggio**

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**NOTE:** Happy Birthday Newmoonaholic!

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Tuscany and two cats was my life.

Was, being the operative word.

I'd come here almost two years ago in search of something more. After my life had fallen apart and everything I'd known and loved abandoned me all I had left was my waning spirit. Unfettered to any one place I took off, I wandered, I searched.

I came to Italy on a whim, making my way from one end to the other a slow trek across a beautiful landscape, only the sunlight to guide me. I no longer wore a watch, I didn't live by the standards of todays civilization, I just moved. From one place to another and drank in all of earth's natural beauty.

When I found Tuscany I never left.

The rolling hills and myriad of colors were the curb appeal. The vineyards and local hospitality the neighborhood, and my beautiful cottage in the middle of nowhere my solace. Hook, line and sinker. The moment I saw the for sale sign I was decided.

I kept myself to the confines of my property line with my easel and painted the pictures of my personal heaven to sell to tourists. Everyone wanted a reminder of their time here because few were as fortunate as I was. My sun-kissed skin was beginning to blend me in with the locals who's olive tones would make me envious. I was a golden brown, and still didn't have the sparkle they had in their eyes, one I could only imagine came from a lifetime surrounded by this beauty.

Today, I had painted the small village that was cradled by the hills that surrounded it. The rust colored roofs, a beautiful comparison to the rolling green hills behind it. I could even see the sunny disposition of the Sunflowers that seems to reach for the small town.

I had been on the edge of my property, practically straddling the line with my neighbors so I could see past the lines of trees that dotted the horizon. With little shade, I was now warn out and headed back to the sanctity of my home. My solace.

I dropped my easel by the front door and walked my way through the house to my bedroom. I tugged my flimsy white blouse over my head as I moved, the fabric clinging to me and the sweat that had formed on the trek home.

I stopped at the door of he spare room that I always left open and smiled. The afternoon sun was streaming in through the windows warming the sheets as Bentley and Baxter curled up in the desultory rays of sunshine. The ribbons of light highlighted the hues of color in both cats fur as they stretched toward the heat with a admirable laziness only a feline could possess.

"My lazy boys," I giggled, letting the skirt I was wearing drop to the floor. Having so much property was one of those liberating things that meant I was alone, so all of my inhabitions had fallen away. "I'm going to take a shower."

I knew telling my cats of my intentions was insanity, but they really were the only reason I used my voice these days. I hadn't seen anyone since my last trip into town when I had bought the groceries and called the only person in the world who even cared if I lived or died.

I made my way to my bathroom and shed the rest of my clothes as I turned on the water but realized all of my towels had been line dried and currently sat on the table neatly folded.

Naked, I made a dash for the dining room, giggling at my own liberation. A liberation that was currently non existent.

"Shit. Sorry. Door was . . . yeah, open."

"Fuck." The word fell from my lips as I skidded to a halt by the table and grasped at the cotton towel to tug over my exposed flesh. The burn in my cheeks was like a fire, radiating heat as my embarrassment coiled around my veins.

The moment the towel was around me and secure I spun around and put my hands on my hips, my eyes narrowed. i tried to keep my temper, I tried to keep the venom from my voice, but it was impossible.

"What are you doing here?"

"That's all I get?" His cocky grin was in place making his dimples deep in his cheeks.

"What do you expect from me, Emmett?" I whispered, his cornflower blue eyes were full of his usual joviality. It felt like a lifetime since I'd seen him.

"I've been looking for you. I looked everywhere, even that stupid hotel in Roswell you love so much, you know with the aliens and the . . ."

"Stop it." I said sternly, putting my hand out to protest. I'd always though of Emmett as a friend, we'd always talked about everything, but I couldn't do this. "Have you considered that maybe I didn't want to be found?"

I could see the pain in his eyes, but didn't quite understand it. I didn't want to understand it. I wanted my solitude back. I wanted to be alone with Baxter and Bentley. I wanted the freedom I had just lost after two years of nothingness.

"Why? Why would you leave and not tell anyone you were going?"

"I told Uncle Charlie," I said defiantly, my hands on my hips. "He's the only family I have, he's the only one who cared enough to know where I was."

"I know, he told me," Emmett confessed his hand raising to rub his neck.

As much as I loved my uncle Charlie I was going to now have to hurt him. He'd promised not to tell anyone where I'd gone. He knew better. Did he honestly thing two years of no one asking meant the first person to get curious about and ask should have the answer? Not in my book it didn't. What's more, he gave it to the Emmett. Emmett. My ex-husband's best friend. The ex-husband who was probably married to that red headed bitch Victoria by now. The very woman he'd been with behind my back.

Pain broke through the small fragmented fissures of the heartbreak I'd thought I had already mourned enough for. My mind screamed as my stomach rolled. No, not here, this is why I had left that life behind. This was the one place I didn't allow myself to think of him and what he'd done. The one place that I had left and Emmett was now killing that for me.

My hand gripped the edge of the table as my knees weakened My body felt too heavy to hold them.

"What. Do you. Want?" I forced out, my breathing becoming more labored with the roll of nausea. I just wanted him to leave. I wanted to be on my own. I wanted to forget everyone that chose him when all of that shit went down.

His face, burned into my memory popped up again with the words he'd said, _'What did you expect me to do? We haven't had sex in months. You're on the pill even though you promised we'd try for kids. You're frigid, cold and barren. Did you think I would stick around in a loveless marriage forever? You're the only one who didn't know about her. Except maybe your cousins. They're MY friends, sweetheart. You're a hard bitch that everyone is glad to see the back of.'_

His voice echoed through my memory, as hard and bitter as it was the day he said it. He cheated and somehow I managed to get blamed for it. That was always his way though. Cold and manipulative, controlling and unforgiving. Me taking the pill had been a personal insult to him so he found himself someone better.

"Why did you leave without saying goodbye?"

I laughed, the edge was a steely and sharp as a knife. "You all made your choice. He's your best friend, Emmett, I was aware of that and he was certainly quick to tell me how you all had chosen him and agreed with his new choice."

Emmett's mouth dropped open and floundered for a couple of seconds.

"Not. Finished." I breathed, finally taking up pacing. "I can see how everyone would think I was cold. I can even see my cousins thinking it. Well, maybe not Bella, she probably did what Edward asked her to do considering he's been friends with Peter for so long. I just don't know why none of you told me about her. Why you let him do that. He was so . . ."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Emmett asked, his patience finally wearing thin. He wouldn't be talked over any more."You left without saying a word to any of us. You told Peter that you were tired of his games and that you were going to New York to paint. He didn't meet Vict . . ."

"Don't say her name."

Emmett's eyes darkened to a cobalt blue the iris' swarming out as the small lines at the edges of his eyes deepened. Taking a look at the bigger picture, I could see his shoulders tight, his fists balled.

I gulped as I tried to form the words, but none came. Had they been lied to as well? How did I even handle this?

"He said you left him."

"Nope, he left me for her. The red head," I said my tongue popping against my lips as the D was forced past my lips. "Amazing that isn't it. The bastard never did like competition."

"It's my fault," Emmett growled, pulling out a chair and falling into it. The wooden legs screamed against the tile. "I was at the bar. Peter was being an asshole, he saw this red head and he was drunk off his ass. We tried to leave but he wasn't having any of it. Edward and I left him and Jasper there alone. I was so pissed."

"You know Peter," I sighed, pulling out a chair and sitting, making sure my modesty was covered. "He did what he wanted. Nothing can stop him."

Emmett ran a hand done his face, the scratching sound of it hitting the dark stubble that framed his face almost echoed through the silent room. I finally looked at him and noticed him for the first time.

His clothes were rumpled, his eyes bloodshot. There were dark circles under his amazing iridescent eyes, his dark curls seemed to have no direction to them and he looked . . . defeated.

"For so long . . ." he started. He cut himself off and leaned forward in his chair, his elbows crashing down on his knees. "Do you remember the last conversation you and I had?"

I hung my head and nodded. Maybe that was why I'd been so resistant to fight and more inclined to believe that his friends knew. I'd thought Emmett was doing that whole wingman thing for his boy.

"What did I say to you?"

"Emmett, this isn't a good . . ."

"What did I say?"

"You told me to leave him." I couldn't say his name again. My mouth felt dirty enough having said it as many times as I had.

"What else?"

"Emmett . . ."

Emmett's eyes closed cutting off my access to the soulful blue that told me everything I needed to know. I remembered the conversation well. It was everything I had clung to for the eight months I had backpacked around Europe, for the three months it took to close on this house. These past two years of solitude.

The words haunted me everyday.

I backed away from him and the table now, unsure if I could really do this, if I could rehash everything I'd worked so hard to push to the back of my mind. The pain of betrayal, the ache of missing my friends and their loss. The fragments of my heart, the heart that had always belonged to Emmett.

I knew I was disgusting for falling in love with my husbands best friend. I'd met him at the wedding, there was never any denying . . .

I backed away, my ass hitting the hall wall. I slid across it, watching as Emmett scrubbed his face in frustration. He hadn't even noticed my absence. I kept moving back toward my room. I came to the spare room and stepped into the pool of light still in ribbons around the bed.

I had suppress all of this. I had pushed it to the back of mind no matter how often I though of him, the conversation. I forgot I wanted him.

"You're all I thought about for almost three years and you walk away?"

"No, I just, I . . ."

"It doesn't matter. I came here to deliver a message."

"Emmett . . ."

"I love you."

"You can't." Please prove me wrong.

"I can and I do. I love you, Rosalie Hale and I always will."

Everything had changed so drastically, I had just wanted him to leave. To take the reminder of the pain and betrayal I had left behind in my old life and now . . . now, I wanted to drown in his words. I knew the way I'd felt about him was wrong when I was married, so I had allowed us to be friends with no hope of ever knowing him better.

When I had left Peter, I had believed I would never see him again, I had believed he would stay with his best friend.

But he was here.

Now.

Telling me he loved me.

"Rose?"

I heard the shuffling of his steps as I watched the bands of sunlight hit my bare toes. I was trying to breathe, trying to find my voice rather than sitting here like a simpleton while his words rolled around in my head.

"Did you hear me?"

I nodded.

"Say something."

I tried to tell him to let me think. I tried to tell him to leave me to think, but I couldn't. I didn't want that because I knew what I wanted.

"I love you too."

His heated breath brushed over my shoulder as his arms circled my waist and pulled me back against him. I could feel his heart pounding on the naked flesh of my back.

"I wanted to believe you did. I hoped you did."

"I do." And I always would.

Emmett spun me in his arms trapping my arms with his as his head tipped down, one of his hands lifted my chin slowly.

The minute his lips met mine I knew this was right. Love and passion exploded inside of me like a naked flame in a firework store. I was happily drowning in emotion.

This was what I'd been missing in my new life.

He was what I had been missing all along.

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!**


	9. Week 9: Grand Theft Cookie

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 9  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 2**  
Title: **Grand Theft Cookie  
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**NOTE:** Foul Language and Drug Usage, General Ridiculousness!

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We were stood on the platform of the train station, both of us swaying in the non existent breeze. Emmett's tall frame reminded me of one of the silver firs back home that caught the wind and leaned over to the point it looked as though it was about to topple over. My teeth were dug into my bottom lip trying to stop the laughter, with a guy his size it was just odd.

Not to mention we were one bowl past high.

Amsterdam had been so amazing, it was a beautiful city that seemed to hold the majestic feeling of an older world stuck in translation with the twenty first century. Shit, who the fuck was I kidding? I couldn't have told you a damn thing about the city. Both of us had spent our time divided between the cafes and our hotel room.

I got horny when I smoked. Sue me.

"We could just stay here," Emmett mumbled, his eyes drooping even further. "We have two weeks left."

I barked out my laughter unable to control myself, my stomach was beginning to feel like my throat was cut as the munchies started to set in. I ran my tongue along the roof of my mouth making a slapping sound.

"Rosie, don't do that, you're making me hard."

The familiar burn of desire ran through my body and settled neatly at the apex of my thighs at his words, which forced me to rub my legs together for delicious friction. God, did the locals get tired of seeing this shit? Stoners rolling through and fucking like bunnies before heading out again.

Emmett took a staggering step toward me, his grin making his dimples seem a foot deep. I loved them, and right now all I wanted to do was lick them.

An announcement that our train was arriving interrupted our tunnel vision for one another and I couldn't help the surge of disappointment that flooded me. Emmett's long arms folded around me and the backpack I was wearing as he crushed me against his chest.

"We'll make up for it in Paris. It's the city of love after all . . ." He was drowned out by the arrival of the train, but still managed to grab my ass and push his lips against my neck in reassurance.

The blonde strands of my hair whipped around us from the motion of the train, and the squeak of the brakes made me bury my head further into his chest. Even in this state he made me feel safe. Even if he still did maintain the belief I had the silver tongue of Lucifer and could verbally cut down anyone that ever tried to fuck with me.

Sure, I didn't take shit, but Emmett was still the physical force behind my words. Without him I would be like a submissive puppy rolling on my back, subservient to whatever force deemed it necessary to threaten me. Well, I would still be talking, but that would be it.

"Paris, mademoiselle."

"Oui."

"Then get that tight ass of yours on the train."

"God, you know how to sweet talk a woman," I added sarcastically with a wink. The truth was he did when it was necessary, we'd just been together too long for all that idiotic formality bullshit.

My stomach growled again. The emptiness of it seemingly echoed by the hunger surge from the last cafe we'd visited. One thing about smoking that I could never control was the munchies. When I was hungry, I needed sustenance to fill the bottomless black void. Everything tasted better that way, everything.

"Em, I'm hungry, maybe we should run in to the store here and grab something to eat for the train."

"They have a food car, gorgeous. We'll be fine."

"You think they have milk? I could really go with milk right now."

"Rosie," he chuckled, once he started he was unable to stop. If he hadn't have been wearing shorts, and I hadn't have been wearing sandals, I would have shin kicked the fucker.

"Ohh eggs Benedict. That would be better," I added, finally ignoring his laughter and glancing at the train.

Emmett tugged on my hand, his head still shaking, but his laughter was now silent. The last thing we needed was to draw attention to ourselves. Well more than was completely necessary anyway, Emmett was a huge guy at six foot four, and had the ass of a god. An ass I wanted to touch right now.

Food and sex, sex and food. My mind was an empty highway with two pit stops. After three days of this I was starting to forget how to think properly.

Emmett deposited me in a set of four seats that were facing one another, he took the seat opposite and grinned at me. He knew where my head was at. I could see it reflected in those baby blues. Two kinds of hunger, one aimed at me, and the other honed in on the bag of cookies the lady was pulling out of her bag two seats behind him.

"Ok, we definitely need food."

"No shit sherlock," I snorted, pulling out one of the maps we'd drawn out our three week backpacking route on. I ran my finger along the line to Paris. I was excited about getting there because I knew the hotel we were staying in. My parents had only agreed to pay for that one thing as a birthday present to me. It was going to be nice living in luxury for two days, a stark contrast to the hostel we'd been staying in.

"As soon as we head out I will get us something to eat. Just sit tight."

Both of us sat in silence, staring at the poor woman who was now onto her second cookie. I'm sure we were freaking her out, but I couldn't help it, the chocolate chips looked so good. They were the gooey kind, where the chocolate chips had melted into the doughy goodness. I could swear I was about to start drooling.

My stomach growled so loud, Emmett heard it from his seat across from me.

Finally, after what felt like eons, the train started to move out of the station, the systematic double thrums forcing me into a relaxed state against the mint green and brown chairs. Emmett threw me the map he was reading and gave me a wink.

"I'll see if they have what you want. If not your getting a whole lot of junk."

"If it's edible, I'm down, but I already have dessert," I laughed winking at him.

"God, I love you."

"I know," I smirked, watching him lope down the aisle toward the dining car. He was so tall he had to hunch over a little and for a hot second I felt guilty about it. Then it passed.

I sprawled out over the two chairs and let my body relax with my mind. The haziness of coherence still not even a glow on the horizon. Not that I minded, this would last halfway to Paris making the long trip so much more bearable.

It seemed to take Emmett forever to find his way back, but come back he did, and I was none too happy that he was empty handed, I could have eaten my hand at this point.

"Credit card machine's down, no ATM, and I don't have cash."

What. The. Fuck.

"Please say you're teasing me, Em."

He shook his head, not even a grin to indicate he was pulling my chain like he so often did.

"And the next stop is in forty-five minutes."

Fuck. Fuckety, fuck, fuck fuckery. This was ruining my mellow yellow status. I needed to feed the beast that was my stomach. He fell into his seat opposite me, his long legs stretching out so his knees were on either side of mine.

"Sorry, babe."

"Not your fault, snookums."

He beat on his chest playfully and toyed with a smile creating the shadows in those lickable dimples. "Me man, need to feed my woman."

"Oh I love it when you get all manly."

His guffaw filled the area around us, when he finally quietened down, all I could hear and smell were those damn cookies. That's when the very bad idea hit me. Very. Bad. Idea.

I knew better. Well, I thought I did. Yet apparently, I didn't act on those morals, instead I followed the orders of my neglected stomach.

"Stay here."

"Ok, where are you going?"

"Food."

"Rosie?"

"Trust me."

Emmett laughed and I kicked him in the inner thigh, careful to avoid little Emmett, especially as I was planning on playing with him later.

I got up and moved slowly toward the bathroom at the end of the car and shuffled inside. I was fighting with my conscience. It was the usual really: _This is a bad idea_, **_But I am so fucking hungry_**, Hungary, I want both hahaha, _Still hungry_, **Bad, Bad idea**, _but what an experience_.

In the end, all I needed was a _fuck it_. Because I no longer cared. I hadn't broken the law ever, one of my best friends dad was the fucking police chief in our small town.

I walked out of the bathroom and smiled at the cookie woman as she pulled a book out of her bag, before letting my eyes scan the car. There was only one other person in here so we would be implicated when she noticed the absence of four of the chocolate chipped goodness, but it wasn't as though they could prove it. We were eating the evidence and I sure as shit wasn't going to save any for later.

I eyed the open tote bag sat leaning under her chair and decided on my best course of action.

There was only one dammit.

I stepped quietly into the seats behind her, but before mine and Emmett's and lowered myself as quietly as I could. Emmett caught me out the corner of his eyes and shook his head no, but I found myself grinning in response and nodding as I sunk to my knees.

He was waving his arms and mouthing "_No_," while all I could do was grin and lower myself to my stomach.

Thankfully, I was small enough to slide silently under the chair, cringing about what the hell would be under here if I actually looked up. This was so gross, but it felt necessary . . . for now.

I tugged the bag quietly, revealing a bounty of crumbling, soft, ooey gooey cookies. I wanted to be greedy and steal the whole thing but that would ensure getting caught. I plucked four from the bag and shimmied backwards until I was free.

I stayed crouched for a while, waiting to see if she noticed anything off but her nose was still buried in her book.

Emmett waved his arms to tell me I should move, now.

I dashed around the seats and fell into mine, my body taking up the length of the two seats as I laid the cookies on my chest and fought the giggles bubbling through my chest. Emmett didn't seem to care at all as he laid on his seats in the same fashion.

"I fucking love you, Rosalie. I thought you were gonna go flirt with the guy in the dining car."

"I'm not dressed for that."

"Baby you could be in a trash bag and make it look good."

I laughed at his flattery and handed him two cookies as a reward. Hiding our spoils by lifting the maps and unfolding them to hide us, we ate in peace. Both of us giggled to ourselves and one another.

Incidentally, they were the by far the best cookies I had ever eaten in my life.

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!  
**


	10. Week 10: The Light in the Trees

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 10  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Both**  
Title: **The Light in the Trees  
**

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_What we need is a persuasion__  
What you give is retaliation__  
I hope one day we meet again  
I hope one day we love one another_**_  
Top Ranking by Blonde Redhead_**

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"Come on! You know I would never let you get hurt."

"Oh that's very reassuring. Especially if both of us end up plummeting to our deaths."

"You're such a drama queen," Haden sighed, bending at the waist to pick up a stone. He tossed it straight up and caught it a couple of times before sending it out into the middle of the ravine with one of his well known speed pitches. It careened into the water, the splash muted from the distance. "Megan, I promise the reward will be worth it."

My stomach fluttered, but I wasn't sure if it was his "promise" or the way my eyes moved to the large red bridge that covered the huge drop beside us. I liked Haden, I always had. We'd been best friends since I stuck my gum in his hair in third grade. His mom still likes to bring up that story, which he always manages to steer us away from. Thank God.

I didn't know when these new, unfamiliar feelings started settling in, but I knew I could never act on them. We were best friends and that was it. He was one of the best looking guys in our university, of course he was dating Ava Driscoll, the most popular airhead who - I swear - believed gum chewing was a major she could take. Unfortunately, she also looked like a supermodel, I had no chance.

I was five foot five, had raven black hair, my body was that of a stick insects which Haden consistently teased me about by shoving burgers - with more grease than I could ever possibly stomach - under my nose. Thankfully, the fire engine red highlights had done something to break up the monotony of my plain Jane appearance, not enough to capture the one set of eyes I truly wanted.

So, after twenty one years, I was resigned to move on. Not think about him in that way and just pretend my body wasn't a huge traitor.

"And what, will make risking my life worth it?"

"How do you have the ability to do that, Meg?"

"Do what?"

"Make a suspension bridge sound like a fucking precariously placed log."

"It's a talent."

Haden laughed and picked up my hand, tugging me towards the bridge that hung over the gorge. I dug my feet into the earth below me and shook my head fervently. I'd been afraid of heights my entire life, he knew that. It wasn't going to change because he wanted to show me this mysterious, yet exciting, discovery.

The only questions I had were, did it really have to include this bridge? And why was it so late in the day? Sunset was literally like an hour away.

"You're going to love this. Just close your eyes and let me guide you over here. I can't believe after three years here I only just found this."

"Haden, I can't. You know I caaaa . . ."

Before I could even finish speaking, I was over his shoulder and he stepped closer to the red suspension bridge.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to thump my fists against his back in hopes he would put me down, but before my brain could even process the thoughts; he was stepping onto the bridge and I was paralyzed by my fear. My eyes scrunched closed as I fisted the cotton of his shirt to keep me secure.

I was going to hurt him when he put me down. He knew better than to force me into something I was uncomfortable with. My muscles screamed with the tension in them. I could feel every bone in his shoulder, every breath he took seemed to push the joint deeper into my ribs.

I knew the moment we were further on the bridge. Even with my eyes closed I could feel the air around us opening up. The breeze was stronger and seemed to come from everywhere. My hair, that had been hanging limp down Haden's back, now danced around us both tangling in his arms as he moved. Lastly, but certainly not least, came the movement. The bridge seemed to waiver and rock in the wind; I could feel Haden compensating for the lack of balance and it made my heart hammer against his body in vengeance.

I had to stop over thinking this.

Concentrating on anything but where and what we were doing, I let my mind focus on my revenge. It didn't last long, his familiar musk seemed to permeate my brain dragging the thoughts away from what I wanted to do in anger to what I wanted to do in lust. My brain concentrated on the hands gripping the exposed flesh of my thighs. I was happy and pissed I'd worn shorts.

All too soon, I was being dropped to my feet. I tried to force breaths out of my lungs to get rid of that all encompassing smell.

Of course then he opened his mouth.

"See, that wasn't too bad was it?"

My eyes flickered open as my chuck clad feet came into contact with his shins.

"Not so _fucking_ bad? Have you lost your goddamn mind?" I screamed, watching him hop on one leg as his hands ran up and down the area I had just impaled with my toes.

"Was that NECESSARY?" he bellowed, tentatively placing his foot back on the ground and turning those hazel eyes on me.

Ha! He was angry. I could tell with the darkness in his eyes, they always tended to move toward brown when he was mad or upset. I preferred the mossy green most days, but the results seemed to satisfy me this time.

"Yes. It was. Maybe now you will comprehend no when you hear it _screamed_ at you!"

Haden mumbled under his breath and gave me a look over before marching into the tall trees that littered this side of the valley. I snorted in response, but followed him regardless, the more space I put between my body and that bridge the better.

"I can't believe you kicked me."

"It's not the first time, and it certainly won't be the last. Especially if you pull shit like that."

"I was trying to help you out."

I rolled my eyes and marched past him along the worn path that weaved through the trees. He and I seemed to have a very different opinion on what '_helping_' entailed.

"It wasn't even that high, Meg. And if you'd have opened your eyes for a second. You would have seen how beautiful it was."

I stopped and turned to face him.

The bastard grinned and winked.

"The river kicked up quite a breeze though, huh? I felt you shudder a couple times."

D_on't blush. Don't you dare blush._ I coached myself. I could probably play it off as anger, but I hated lying to him. I turned around and marched off to save myself the embarrassment and he slapped my ass hard for lack of response.

"Asshole."

"Yet, you still love me."

"I'm starting to wonder why," I retaliated, stepping over a fallen tree trunk. "What the hell is so important that you had to scare me half to death anyway?"

"You'll see," he answered, taking the lead again with his long strides.

I followed him deeper into the woods holding my silence. I trusted him implicitly, but that didn't make me any less curious. I knew nothing we were going to do would hurt me, but it had the distinct possibility of being completely odd or just plain ridiculous. I'd known him long enough to realize that. He had a brilliant mind but refused to use it when it came to his common sense. Hence Ava.

"Do you remember our obsession with the _X-Files_ growing up?"

"Are you serious?"

"No, not at all," he quipped sarcastically. Even looking at the back of his head I could tell I was getting a huge eyeroll. "It was a yes or no question, Meg."

"Yes."

"Do you remember your favorite episode?"

"You want me to elaborate or stick to the yes and no?"

"Megan!"

"No."

"_What?_" he shouted, stopping and turning to face me. "All I heard about was that one episode for weeks. You made me re-watch that episode until the DVD gave up working."

I shook my head.

"What is the matter with you?"

"Hayd, you know I barely remember yesterday. What did you expect?"

"Just stop being so damn pedantic and think about it."

I did. I moved forward when he started walking again and tried to search my memory of all those years ago. I remembered having a huge crush on Mulder, while Haden had a thing for Scully. The undertone of will they won't they kept us in full suspension and fully attentive on the screen ahead of us. I just couldn't remember the show that I constantly played. There was one that . . . No.

"No!"

"Ha! Knew you could get there eventually."

"You found one?"

"Yep, but they don't travel."

I jumped up and down and clapped my hands in excitement. My hands slapping Haden's arms as I did. "You should have told me."

"You say that now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It would never have got you across that bridge."

I bit my bottom lip, letting the teeth impale the flesh there. He was right, in hindsight I could see that nothing would have made me cross that bridge on my own volition. _Nothing_.

"Your right, so I formally apologize for kicking you."

Haden held out his hand with a smile and I knew I was forgiven. Of all the adventures we'd had as children, only two of them had started out without an argument of some kind. I loved our expeditions, but I had to be coerced into it, so we would always start with a fight . . . more to the point, me fighting the inevitable. Haden tricking me into it so I would finally realize he was right. Then we made up and made another memory together.

We trekked for what felt like hours, but they were easy. We talked about everything we'd missed in the others life over the last couple of weeks. He'd been spending more and more time with Ava, and even though I couldn't stand her, I knew it was important to Haden, so I carried on spending all my time with my roommate Christa and pining over the one guy I could never have.

I could never tell him that though.

Night fell through the forest like a blanket. One moment the jade greens and dancing light bounced from the dark bark of the trees, the next, we could barely see five inches in front of our faces.

"Almost there."

"Yeah, well if I break my leg you're paying the hospital bills."

"Stop being such a baby and grab my hand then. It's like five minutes away." He scooped my hand up in his and pulled me close to his body. His head was bowed so he could see the ground below him. How he was able to see anything in this suffocating darkness was beyond me, but somehow he managed it.

We climbed an incline that seemed to glow the further we traveled up it. The inky darkness of night once again gave away to this illusion of day with each step we took.

"What is that?"

"Light."

"Your a genius."

"So are you apparently. Think about it."

"Oh . . . Oh! Come on."

I took the lead and tugged him behind me now I could see again. My excitement was palpable. I knew what we were doing would be somewhat taboo in civilized society; but considering neither of us were particularly good with etiquette, I figured I was safe.

The beams of light were bright through the trees, highlighting the dust motes and humidity that hung in the late summer air. It was an eerie look, one that often emulated ghosts in the horror movies Haden loved so much, but was a completely different meaning to me here and now.

As I came around the last bend I stopped dead in my tracks. Haden slammed into me with force and mumbled an apology as he stepped around me. Not that I was listening. I was mesmerized by the scene in front of me.

Black canvas was hung from the trees, dipping in between the places it was roped. It fell to the floor kissing the bracken gently and hiding what it could of the small community of shacks and tents that were spread out in the forest. It looked like a little village. I could hear the thrum of the generators filling the forest. The light came from a banner that hung between trees, and sure enough, it read: **FREAK SHOW**.

People were gathered around the entrance of the tent waiting patiently for entry to the show that was sure to be interesting. The memories I had been searching for earlier came flooding back into the forefront of my mind making my stomach churn with excitement.

"Told you."

"You did. Where did all these people come from?"

"You don't want to know. I took the route of least resistance up here, but we're going to have to go back the hard way. I figured you wouldn't want to know about it."

"Please tell me it has nothing to do with heights or . . ."

"It's a zip line."

No. No, no, no. I would camp out in the woods and take the damn bridge back before I ever agreed to do that.

"Breath, Megan."

I couldn't remember how to, until Haden slapped me on the back roughly. The panic was making me dizzy enough to the point that the oxygen burned as I dragged it in.

"Look we'll figure something out. Just wait here while I go get us some tickets."

I nodded. My jellied legs wouldn't carry me anywhere anyway. There was absolutely no risk of me wandering off somewhere. It was probably a good thing he'd waited until now to tell me about the trip home.

I watched him walk away before crouching closer to the ground and gripping my knees to my chest. A zip line meant a greater height, a bigger drop, a longer fall. Why did that have to be the only course of travel?

"Miss? Miss, are you okay?"

I looked up to the voice that was inquiring to my well being and tried not to react. The face that greeted me was streaked with mud, the outfit was torn pants and a hole riddled t-shirt, and he wore no shoes. Still, it wasn't the first thing I noticed about him. His eyes were a translucent blue, with dots of amber lining them. Even in the diffused light they were obvious and hypnotic.

The face that framed them was ruggedly handsome, the jaw square and cutting, the nose long and regal looking. His black hair hung about his cheeks, mixing with his unshaven beard, that did nothing but make him look more handsome.

"Are you alright?" he asked, the flecks of amber almost rippling through the blue with his emotion.

"Yes, just not good with heights. I've just been informed of my mode of transport home."

"Oh that," he chuckled, offering his hand to me. I took it and enjoyed the warmth of his skin against mine. Standing straight he must have been at lead a head taller than me, and I found myself looking up to find his eyes again. "I'm Tate."

"Megan, but you can cal me Meg."

"Meg. I like it. What brings you here?"

"My friend, he found this place by accident one day."

"He?"

I felt myself blush. Knowing that he wanted an explanation for my companion made my stomach curl in excitement.

"My best friend. His girlfriend doesn't like nature very much."

The amber in his eyes seemed to swirl with the very obvious confirmation of my relationship status. Christa and I had talked boys a lot over the past couple years. I had been sadly lacking in the dating department. Most guys on campus seemed to think Haden and I had something on the side, so they avoided me at all costs. I wasn't exactly memorable either.

"I have to get ready for the show. My dad's the wolf man, hence the obviously ripped clothes, but maybe I could give you a ride home later? So you don't have to endure the zip line?"

"You wouldn't mind?"

His grin grew at my weak acceptance. He hands moved deep into his pockets as he backed away.

"No, I definitely wouldn't mind. I'll meet you at the entrance after the show. Your friend will have to sit in the back I have a truck and it's not exactly big."

"That's perfect, thank you."

He smiled and nodded, and before I could say anything else, he disappeared into the black forest where the glow of light ended. Maybe this was the best idea Haden had ever had. Maybe the endurance of that bridge and the walk from hell was all for a reason.

Knowing Haden and I could never be together had always made things difficult for me. I had never even looked past him to see anyone else. I was locked in a trap with blinders on. I preferred my self imposed torture to the unknown that seemed to linger just beyond it's boundaries. Tate was the first person I had actually _seen_ outside of my own little world of Haden, and it gave me an odd sense of hope.

Maybe I could move on after all.

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .**

* * *

**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!  
**


	11. Week 11: The Reading

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

* * *

**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 11  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 1**  
Title: **The Reading  
**

**

* * *

**

* * *

_. . . Continued . . .  
_****

* * *

"I think he likes you."

"Oh shut up, jackass," I countered, shoving Haden out of my way. Tate's truck was still on the street, he hadn't even turned the corner and Haden was already on the warpath. Not t hat it was anything new for him. His goal in life seemed to be to torment me.

"What? I'm being serious."

"I don't want to talk about this with you."

"Why not? I'm your best friend."

How about because Tate was the first person I have been interested in since I realized how I felt about you? That the conversation in the truck on the way home had been one of the most relaxed yet stimulating conversations of my life? Neither of them would work so I improvised.

"Because you're a boy."

"I'm all man, baby."

"You're also very, very sick."

"Yeah well you've known me your whole life, why is that a surprise? Hey, can I stay at your place? I don't wanna walk the mile back to the apartment."

"You lazy shit," I laughed, looping my arm through his. "Fine! But if Ava calls me, you're dealing with her."

I wanted to have the strength to say no to him. Haden had always managed to get what he wanted from me without once having to beg for it. This though, this was dangerous territory, this meant he would be crashing in my bed with me in the most platonic way, even when my mind went somewhere else.

Most nights, I would climb out of bed and onto the couch so that I could get some sleep. My excuse in the morning had always been his snoring was so loud it kept me up. Sadly it was being that close to him and not being able to do anything about it that really kept me up at night.

We walked to my building in silence. Haden was texting one of his friends while I thought about my conversation with Tate on the way home.

He'd changed before meeting us outside the tent, I had been a little more freaked out than I liked to admit after the show, but I kept my cool, even more so when I saw he'd changed. He looked amazing in the sweater and jeans he'd changed into, and the girl in me couldn't help but notice the way the color of the sweater brought out the amber in his eyes.

To my surprise he and Haden seemed to have a lot in common, the two of them chatting easily as I traipsed along between them. It was Tate who had brought me into the conversation though; asking my opinion on how I thought the team was doing this year.

It wasn't like I had a lot to say on the subject, but he listened attentively anyway.

Haden had hopped easily into the bed of the truck when we reached it, and Tate opened my door for me, before strolling easily to the other side in the dark. He didn't say another word until we were on the highway.

Once we started talking, we didn't stop. We covered everything, from where we grew up to music and literature. The thirty-minute drive flew by too quickly and we ended up on my street quicker than I would have hoped.

When he asked for my number, I put it in his phone. I wanted to know more about him. Talking to him had been so much easier than I'd have imagined. I didn't want it to end, the hope that I'd had before the show had bloomed in the short amount of time I'd spent with him.

"Earth to Megan, come in, Megan."

"You what?"

"Welcome back, space cadet. I need your keys, you know, to get in."

"Oh right, sorry," I mumbled, digging in my pockets.

I found my keys and opened the door. I'd been so preoccupied I didn't consciously remember making it up the stairs. Haden fell on the small couch and picked up the remote to the TV, flicking through the recorded list on the Tivo Christa and I shared.

"Do not delete anything, Haden. I will let Christa murder you this time."

"I won't, I swear. You gonna watch TV with me for a bit?"

"No, I'm going to bed."

"Throw me in a pillow and blanket?"

"Sure."

I wandered off into my bedroom and grabbed the spare pillow and blanket I kept here specifically for the nights he stayed, I threw them at him from my door and waved a goodnight at him before closing myself in my room with my thoughts.

**

* * *

**  
Life moved on as normal after my night in the woods with Haden and Tate. The only difference was, I spoke to Tate every night before I went to bed. If I had thought talking to him in the truck had been easy, it was nothing compared to our talks on the phone.

He was intellectual, funny and thoughtful. I had been doing some work on one of my papers when he'd called one night and we'd gotten into a philosophical discussion about nature vs. nurture. He'd been home schooled his whole life, but his mind was sharper than anyone I had spoken to in my classes. When I asked him if he could objectively answer which he thought was a more proficient method he said he couldn't. He had an argument for both.

He told me about his family and how they'd become involved in the line of work they had. His mom was blind and his dad was an outcast. He played off the situation as a joke, but the inflection in his words made it obvious. He was hurt by the rejection his parents suffered from society, and I couldn't blame him.

He asked about my family and my friendship with Haden. I didn't tell him all the sordid details but I was sure he'd figured most of it out.

After a week of intense phone calls we finally had a date. Just like everything else where Tate was concerned, it proved easy than I'd thought it would be. He never pushed for me to do something I was uncomfortable with, he just took his time, and before I knew it weeks had turned into months.

Three months to be exact and we still hadn't gone further than kissing when he dropped me off at night. Sure, I hadn't dated much, but I was still a woman, and I had needs. I had decided that tonight I was going to be the assertive one, I was going to make a move.

Unfortunately, for me, Haden had other plans.

"Oh come on, please."

"Any other night but tonight, Hade."

"Look, now your dating someone, Ava doesn't have a problem with you. This means we get to hang out more. You know how she is. If you turn her down tonight she'll take it all personally and not ask again."

"That's really not my problem."

"We don't hang out as much as we used to, I want to see you."

I groaned into the phone. Of course Haden would decide he wanted to hang out the night I had decided to amp things up in my relationship. Yet, I still couldn't say no to him, especially when he begged like this.

"Fine, one drink, but that's it. Just so she knows I'm willing to make an effort."

"That's my girl."

I rolled my eyes. I was happy with Tate, when I was with him the rest of the world fell away. Even when I spent time with Haden on my couch, like I had a millions times before, Tate was all I could think about. Tonight though, tonight would be the first time since the night I had met Tate, that I would be in the same room as the two of them and I hated the way it made me feel.

It wasn't that I feared reverting back to worshiping the ground Haden walked on, in some odd way I had finally managed to work through that. It was the fact that the two people I cherished most in the world were coming face to face, and the if they decided they didn't like one another I would be forced to make a decision.

It was irrational, I knew that more than anybody, but I couldn't help the voice in the back of my mind screaming at me.

"See you tonight. We'll meet at Pikes on Main Street, around eight?"

"Eight? Hade, that gives us an hour."

"Will you stop complaining."

"Fine. Whatever."

Haden chuckled on the other end of the line, knowing I would be there at eight because I hated being late. sometime knowing someone for so long was a pain in the ass.

"See you then."

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed, mentally sticking my tongue out at him. Haden was perhaps the only person who could bring out my inner nine year old. "See you then. One drink Haden. I'm serious."

He hung up the phone with a laugh. and all I could do was sigh in frustration. I hadn't planned on going anywhere tonight, and now I had to go and get dressed.

I moved slowly, not really paying attention to anything other than the underwear I had bought for the occasion. The plans for the evening had changed, but I was reluctant to give up on the end goal. I knew what I wanted and I wouldn't be giving up on it, not tonight. It was exactly three months to the day I'd been dragged over that bridge, exactly three moths to the day I had trekked up that hill, and more importantly, it was three months to the day I had met the one person that meant so much to me, he encapsulated my attention.

"Megan?"

"In here," I responded, smiling at the deep resonating voice. "There's been a change of plans."

Tate stepped into the bathroom and wrapped his arms around my waist, his face disappearing into my hair as he breathed me in. It was this kind of thing that drove me to buy the underwear in the first place. His hands were always like hot flowing lava through my clothes, even with simple touches like this, his breath made my knees weak every time it came into contact with my skin, and his lips – there were no words – when they touched my skin a fire ignited inside of me and never extinguished until he left me again.

This unintentional celibacy thing was killing me.

"Hey Meg," he crooned. "I thought you had a present for me."

"Oh I do," I sighed, turning in his arms. "You just have to wait a little longer for it. The quicker we're out of there the sooner you get it."

"Out of where?"

"Haden and Ava asked us to go get a drink with them. I'm sorry, I tried to say no but . . ."

"It's fine. Haden's been in your life forever. I think it will be good for me to get to know him finally."

"You say that now," I smirked, popping up on my toes to kiss his full lips.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, quirking his head while his eyes shone brightly.

"You'll see later."

"Well, lets go so we can get back then."

I laughed, my head falling back so my hair fell gently down my shoulders. Tate caught me by surprise when his lips brushed over my throat gently, cutting off the sound of laughter. The last of the air in my lungs was forced out with a groaning sigh.

"Do we have to go?" I mumbled, my hands tangling in his dark hair.

"No."

Tate's hands gripped both of my hips and hoisted me onto the counter, his hands moving slowly down the material of my dress until he met bare thigh. Any thought I had been having or had been in the in the process of formulating disappeared from my mind, as his warm hands moved up my thighs. We'd been playing this games for days now, every day he moved a little bit closer, but every day he pulled away.

Our lips met in a furious frenzy, my hands tangled in the soft hair at the back of his neck, holding him closer as his hand moved slowly toward the apex of my thighs. The sexual tension was a physical being in the room with us, pushing and coaxing as his thumbs brushed the skin in gentle circles as he moved.

My breaths were coming in stuttered pants as I tried to inch closer to him, tried to lead him home to where I needed him the most. My brain was fuzzy and had my eyes been open I was sure the room would have been spinning with anticipation.

"What time do we have to be there?" he murmured against my skin.

"Be where?" I moaned into room, my body shuddering as his nose nudged the material at my chest.

"We can't do this now, not hurried like this."

"Then we won't go."

I felt his lips curl into a smile against the flesh he was currently nibbling on.

"We have to."

"No, we don't. Haden will forgive me."

"Baby," Tate growled, the sound was feral and wild, and I knew that any further and there would be no stopping.

"Fuck. Fucking stupid Ava and her stupid rules."

Tate smiled, his lips pressing against mine as his hands retreated from under my dress. He was closer than he'd ever been and I was about ready to pull out my hair in frustration.

"You look beautiful, by the way."

I smiled and let my head fall against his chest. I wanted him so badly, I wanted to just call Haden and tell him I was trying to get laid and to back off, but I could already feel the heaving in Tate's chest evening out. The moment had passed.

"Thank you."

"Let's go do this. You said _a_ drink, right?"

"Yeah. A drink."

Tate took my hand and kissed my palm, before easing me off the counter and rearranging my dress. With an arm around my waist he guided me out of the bathroom and into toward the front door.

* * *

Four drinks later, we were still in Pikes. Ava's nasally voice was grating on my sexually repressed nerves, and Tate's hands were burning my skin with his touch.

It hadn't been as bad as I'd first thought it would be. Tate and Haden seemed to share the skill of easy conversation, while Ava and I just listened. I had nothing to say to her, and it was no longer because of her being with Haden. This was strictly because of her idiocy.

I'd tried to bring up a conversation about our English lecture, the one class we shared, and she'd gone off on a tangent about how the professor seemed to like to stare at her breasts more than read pay attention to what she was saying. She was under the impression that he was so mesmerized by her boobs that he wasn't listening to a word she said.

Unfortunately, I did share the class with her and I knew just how wrong she was. When she answered a question she was always superficial, the material was deeper than she could fathom so she quoted the cliff notes, unfortunately she quoted them wrong.

"I'm bored," Ava declared, her claws digging into Haden's chest and interrupting him mid sentence. "Let's go do something different."

"Like what, Beautiful?"

"Oh, there's a psychic in town. Let's go get our fortunes read."

Tate and I looked at one another and back to the blonde that was clinging to my best friend in almost an indecent fashion. The most we'd done all night was hold hands, Ava didn't seem to have a limit.

"That could be fun," Haden perked up, making my eyebrows reach my hairline. "You guys up for it?"

"No, I think we'll take off. It's been fun though."

"Come on, Megan," Ava whined. "It's gonna be fun. Just go out on a limb for once."

"Yeah, come on, Megan," Haden said behind her back, pointing and laughing at me. "It'll be fun."

Ava turned around to thank Haden for backing her up and I couldn't help but Mouth '_I hate you,_' and flick him the bird. Tate actually turned around so he could laugh at the action.

"Okay, Ava. We're going to have to go after that though. We made other plans and we rearranged so we could meet up with you guys. Haden said you were really looking forward to it."

Ava turned to Haden again and I knew she was silently questioning him. This time I pointed and laughed at him. I should have known he was behind this. Ava couldn't stand me.

"Right, then lets do this," Ava smiled, grabbing my hand and digging her hot pink talons into the palm. There were no words to describe how different the two of us were, and I had to admit I was actually glad.

"I'm so sorry," I cried, the moment Tate and I were alone in the truck. "I am going to kill Haden for this."

"For what?"

"Dragging this out," I pouted, sliding across the bench seat so I was close enough to kiss him. I let my hand rest on his thigh as I leaned in, my lips capturing his bottom one and sucking it between my teeth.

Tate groaned in pleasure, his hands wrapping around my body and pulling me closer. His hands fisted in my hair tugging gently so I would release the flesh I was biting down on, I obeyed and let his tongue penetrate my mouth and massage my own. The need from our earlier close encounter seemed to reignite, the kiss prodding at the embers to entice the flame once again.

"Hey!" Haden's voice filled the cab of the truck and was followed by the thumbing of his hand on the window. "Cut that shit out. We've come somewhere to be."

I groaned in frustration and buried my head in the crook of Tate's neck as he unwound the window. I didn't wait for visual confirmation of the grin I knew would be on Haden's face, instead I gave him the finger.

"Now that's just uncalled for."

"No," I protested, lifting my head so I could see him. "That was earned."

"You're such a drama queen," Haden sighed, the smile I'd expected nowhere in sight. "Follow us. Apparently Ava knows where she wants to go."

"Everything ok, Hade?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" he asked, turning around and walking away. I could feel the frown forming as I sat back in my seat. Haden's reaction wasn't like him and it confused me. I was beginning to think I should have kept my mouth shut about Ava wanting us to come out. It had probably caused an argument between the two of them.

"And he calls me a drama queen," I mumbled, winking at Tate who was watching me curiously.

"Come on," he grinned, holding his hand out for me to take. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave, and finish what we started."

"We could make a run for it now."

Tate laughed, and put the truck in drive, pulling out behind Ava's Barbie-mobile as she passed.  
**  
**

* * *

  
"What is she doing in there?" I groaned. We had been in the waiting room for almost an hour while Ava got her reading.

Haden had barely said a word since we'd arrive and Tate seemed to make it his mission to touch me in some form of fashion. Both of them were acting strangely so I chose to ignore them.

"Ava was going on about how different her methods were. I guess they take longer too," Haden snapped, sliding down further in his seat and crossing his arms. "Sorry if we're boring you."

"What is your deal?"

"_Nothing_."

"Yeah, seems that way."

"Okay, Megan. Your turn," Ava sang, dancing into the room and falling into Haden's lap.

I tried to hold back on my eye roll, I didn't even want to be here. I leaned in and kissed Tate before standing up and walking toward the door that seemed to feel like impending doom. This was just what I needed.

"Megan?" The woman asked, standing from her chair at what appeared to be a small card table.

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm Harmony. It's nice to meet you."

"It's good to meet you too," I smiled, stepping forward and offering my hand.

"Oh no, dear. No physical touching, I get too much information at once. Take a seat and I'll explain what we're going to do."

I nodded and sank into the chair opposite her, my hands tangled in my lap as a sudden burst of nervous energy seemed to take control.

She pulled out a tray of off-white squares and laid them on the desk in front of us. "I assume Ava explain my unconventional methods?"

"No, ma'am. She explained you were unconventional but didn't elaborate."

She nodded and pointed to the squares in front of her. "These are nothing mystical or binding. They're simple scrabble pieces. I cleanse them after each use because they work from your energy. I'm going to have you pick out seven pieces, you can touch as many as you want and take as long as you want, just go with your feeling."

Seven pieces? Was I really paying to play scrabble with this woman? I realized that she believed herself to be psychic, but this? It seemed unlikely.

"Your aura has changed color. You're unsure."

"Umm, a little skeptical I guess."

Harmony smiled. I apparently wasn't the first to question her methods.

"Pick seven as I asked. You may be surprised at the outcome."

I nodded and looked at the inoffensive squares in front of me. I picked out seven I felt "drawn" to, and sat back, awaiting the results. She turned them over one by one and examined them carefully, her fingers making them switch position until they spelled out a word I recognized.

**_Freedom_**.

"Interesting choice of word. Why do you think you chose the word?"

"I didn't, I just picked out a few scrabble pieces."

"You felt drawn to them."

I nodded my affirmation and sat back. "But why?"

"You felt bound to something, something you never considered forced on you. Now you're liberated you're seeing how restrained you were, how tied you were to – a boy?"

Haden. I had felt tied to Haden because I couldn't escape my attraction to him. He was my best friend and we were locked in an endless cycle.

"You know what I'm talking about. Your aura is very easy to read."

"I . . ."

"No need to explain. As long as you understand it, that's all that's important."

I nodded. Harmony shifted the word to her right and looked at me again. "You're doing wonderfully, now pick out six letters."

I took a deep breath, still unsure of how much to buy into this. I went through the same process, picking out the squares that seemed to attract my attention. One by one pushing them toward Harmony until I had six.

She turned them over and shifted them again, her smile brightening. The word in front of her legible again.

**_Beauty_**.

"You think your savior is beautiful. What he did for you opened your eyes to the world around you and now your tied to him. Yet, you don't feel trapped, to you he is the embodiment of everything you had been missing."

"How do you know there's a savior?"

"How else would you have broken the cycle? I also saw your aura when you considered who I was talking about."

I blushed. Even though she couldn't possibly know how her words were affecting me, she seemed to simply know.

"Now pick five."

Without hesitation I pulled the five I was most attracted to out of the pieces and pushed them toward her again. I finally admitted I was eager to see where this was going.

She arranged them neatly in front of her, spelling out the new word.

**_Truth_**.

"You should be wary. There is one who will test your new happiness. They will make you search for answers, every question you have asked yourself will be asked of you. I cannot see the outcome of this, please, pick four more. Quickly."

I seared what was left of the collection and slid the four toward her, my heart thumping. Somehow I had gone from being a non-believer looking at this with trepidation to a believer who was seeking the answer in scrabble pieces of all things.

Harmony turned the pieces and sighed in frustration. The letter sat neatly in front of her, spelling the one word I hadn't expected to see.

**_Love_**.

"You will find love once the truth is determined, but there is no answer past that. This is the end result, and your ending will be a happy one. You just have to find the truth in order to get there."

"I'm not sure I understand." None of it made sense. Who could possibly question this happiness and freedom I had found, and Why? Why would anyone try and take that away from me now I'd found it?

"You will, in time. The questions will come to you. Don't live your life according to this reading because the future can change. You must travel on the path you're on to come to this juncture in your life."

How the hell was I supposed to do that when I knew I would have a choice to make? A choice I didn't want to make. I was happy now. I didn't want to have to choose.

"Please, you have to have more answers than that."

"It is for you to discover, Megan. It will come in time, but enjoy what you have now, before fate knocks on the door and makes you rethink every decision you have ever made. Change is inevitable, and you know it's coming."

Change. It _was_ inevitable and I had already been there. Now I was going to be faced with a decision. Something I hadn't known was coming, something I could only guess at. I just hoped it wasn't soon.

"Thank you, Harmony."

"You're welcome, Megan. Would you send in your friend, Tate next?"

"Of course," I murmured, heading toward the waiting room. The loop seemed to continue in my head with every step.

A decision.

A choice.

Change.

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .**

* * *

**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!  
**


	12. Week 12: Changes

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

* * *

**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 12  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 2**  
Title: **Changes  
**

**

* * *

**

* * *

_. . . Continued . . ._

_**NC-17** for content!  
_

* * *

"So?" Tate asked gently as we slid into the truck. "How was your reading?"

I wasn't sure what to tell him. I got what Harmony was trying to say and I understood what was at stake, but I also knew what I wanted right now. Haden had been acting so strange while Tate got his reading, he and Ava had been displaying the most nauseating PDA to date, and I just wanted to get away from them. Yet, it was the way Tate had been while we were waiting for Haden that had really made my mind up.

He hadn't been as obvious as Haden and Ava, but he'd made his point. He wanted out of here and soon, because he wanted to finish what we'd started.

"Confusing," I admitted, my eyes meeting his, hoping that they portrayed how little I wanted to discuss this right now.

"Me too," he grinned. "She told me I would have to fight for what I wanted. That the future would get muddled, but to fight is to win."

"What the hell were your words?"

"Confuse, Battle, Fight, Gain."

"So you win?" I grinned, picking up his hand and threading our fingers.

"That was the tricky part, she said it could go either way but the gain could be another wound."

"I don't like that."

"Me either, but if I'm fighting, I plan on starting now." His fingers squeezed mine before he brought them both to his lips and kissed my knuckles. "And right now, I plan on cashing in that rain check and getting my gift."

I felt my lips curl into a smile. The heat, and weight of his hand in mine made my need grow even deeper. Sure, there were questions to be asked and assumptions to be nixed, but for now; I intended to do nothing but enjoy this night together.

"So, this gift," he asked, his eyes occasionally drifting to mine. "Can I have it now?"

"Hmmm," I hummed, shifting into the middle of the bench seat. "Maybe, but I'm worried about your concentration level."

Tate raised his eyebrows, hunger evident. "Do you have it with you?"

I nodded, my tongue running languidly over my bottom lip as I did.

"Could I find it?"

Again I nodded, my eyes closing slightly as I shifted in my seat.

"Do I get one free guess of where it is – with my hands?"

This time my teeth impaled my bottom lip as my head moved. I wanted him to know what I was talking about, I wanted him to find it, and I wanted all of this frustration of needing him full flame on like Johnny Storm falling from an eighty story building. I needed him.

The hand still holding the steering wheel had white knuckles, but he still managed to drop my hand in his lap with the other before it headed off on it's treasure hunt. His beautiful eyes were shining the headlights reflections the amber flecks ignited in excitement.

His dark hair was almost blue black in the little light we had emanating from the street, all of the same features I remembered about him from that first night standing out as I drank in his quiet determination.

"Where would Meg, hide my gift?" he mused to himself, his hand coming to rest on my bare knee.

"I wonder?" I teased, shifting slightly closer to him.

The heat of his palm left goose flesh in it's wake. His slow deliberate movements taking him to the edge of the denim skirt I was wearing. His hand cupped the thigh closest to him gently, nudging it so I would move with him. I didn't resist.

My legs fell a little further open letting him gain a couple more inches with his hands, my fingers digging into the leather of the bench seat below me as the tingles of excitement shot through my veins.

Every suggestive squeeze had my legs pushing further apart. We moved in slow motion, until his fingers brushed the crease at the apex of my thighs. My head fell back against the window with the sudden pleasure of his touch.

"Is this my gift?" he asked breathlessly, his voice deep and masculine in his arousal.

I nodded again but shook my head with the little clarity I could find. My legs were trembling and my teeth sank further into the flesh of my bottom lip.

"I want it," he growled, his index finger tracing the line of my panties. Every ounce of feeling was centered around his finger as it moved, sparks seemed go off behind my eyes as my breathing intensified.

"I . . . I want you," I confessed, my voice thick with lust. "I need you."

"I'm all yours." The moment the words were out of his mouth, his fingers dipped below the line of my underwear and penetrated me. My body shifted, my back arching so I lifted from the seat. Desire was all I could think about, it ran through my body like a hot wave of lava and bled through my pores.

My finger nails cut into the soft supple leather beneath me as he moved gently, pumping his digit in time with my breaths. He added another finger, his breathing almost as labored as my own making the high all the more exciting. My body reacted to him without prompt, the needing so much more than I though it would be.

"Tate," I mewed, desperate for his full attention. Desperate to let go of the tension building up inside my body. It rolled down my spine with shudders and breathy moans. Mews and whimpers of pleasure.

The truck jerked to a sudden stop, the gears thumping as he threw it in park. The hand that had been on the steering wheel found the back of my neck easily and pulled me to him my legs awkwardly straddling his – his lips taking mine, his tongue penetrating deep and in rhythm with his fingers that never left my body.

"Come for me," he growled around our lips. His hips bucking and knocking his fingers deeper. "Come, baby."

His teeth sank into my bottom lip sending me over the edge. My body arched over the cold rubber of the steering wheel, my fingers digging into his shoulders as I rode the wave of complete and utter euphoria.

"Good girl," he groaned, his hand pulling me back toward him as his other pulled out from the warm cradle they'd found. "Did I win?"

I shook my head, smirking at him as I rocked my hips against his.

"It's only part of it," I sighed, looking around me for the first time. Somehow he'd managed to get us all the way to my place. "Come with me and I'll make sure you see the rest."

"You think I'd say no after that, gorgeous?"

I ran my tongue along my lips and popped open the door. Light flooded the cab of the truck and I almost had to contain my gasp as I looked at the man now cradling me against his body. His eyes were as blue as the summer sky, alive and shocking as he drank me in, the amber twists seemed to writhe, pulsing gently as he drank me in.

"You're eyes."

He didn't say a word, he didn't even acknowledge what I'd said. He leaned in and captured my lips with his, his lips, soft and full, enveloped mine as he pushed against me, his hand holding me in place as his tongue pushed gently into the warm confines of my mouth.

I could feel him moving around me, his hands moving down my back and grabbing my ass as he slid out of the truck, balancing my weight as though I weighed nothing at all. My legs wrapped around his waist as he pressed me against the cool metal of the vehicle.

The faint slamming of the door seemed so distant while I was lost in him like this. He was all I could think about, all I could concentrate on as our bodies rubbed against one another.

"Meg," he groaned as my hips rocked against his again, my ankles locking us together. "Not like this, baby."

His hands moved to my waist carefully, trying not to show any more of my humility than was already on show for anyone who just happened to be around. I followed suit reluctantly, letting my legs drop to the ground as he lowered me.

My legs were like jelly, barely able to carry my weight. Not that I had time to get used to it. Tate had my hand in his, jogging through the dewy grass toward my building. I couldn't help but laugh as I fought to catch up with him.

He held the door open for me, placing a kiss on my shoulder as I passed the tingles moving from that one spot and making it's way down my spine. I had never seen anyone with as much impatience as him as he hammered the tiny button waiting for the elevator.

The door finally slid open with a ding, and Tate wasted no time in dragging me inside. He pressed the button to my floor and didn't even wait for the doors to close before his lips were on mine. We rode the elevator in a heated embrace, both of us clawing at the others clothes as we waited to arrive on my floor.

He pulled me from the enclosure the moment the ding sounded and I shuffled around for my keys. The moment I found them I unlocked the door and pushed it open and him through it with a desperation.

I kicked the door closed and took his hand, pulling him toward my bedroom and ignoring everything else going on in the room. I physically ached for him. It had been so long since I'd had a physical relationship with someone, and it had been a never with someone I cared about as much as I knew I cared about Tate.

"So, this present," he growled, kicking shut the door and pressing me against the dresser with his body.

"You have to unwrap it," I said breathlessly. My hands running down his broad chest. I pushed him away gently and lifted my arms over my head with a devious grin. He smiled and gripped the fabric of my shirt in his hands, lifting it over my head before letting it drop to the floor.

If I'd thought there was a hunger in his glance before, it was nothing to the look he was giving me now. His eyes roamed over my curves, drinking me as he licked his lips. Before I even had a chance to reciprocate the gesture, his fingers were at the button on my skirt, popping it open with a flick of his wrist.

The denim fell to the floor with a sigh of fabric leaving me completely exposed to him.

"You're beautiful."

My fingers moved to the buttons on the front of his shirt as his eyes made another sweep over my body. I fed the buttons through the holes one by one, eager to see the chiseled chest that I could feel against me every time we kissed.

I pushed the material over his shoulders battling his arms as they reached for me. The frenzy we'd had downstairs reignited with the visual stimulation. It was too much and not enough.

Tate stepped forward, his arms circling my waist as my fingers ran down his tanned muscular sides. His lips pushed against mine again, his tongue dipping between my lips as he lifted me onto the dresser. We were the same height like this, and I parted my legs so he could step closer.

"I want you, Meg. All of you."

"You have me," I groaned, forcing my hands between us so I could tackle the button and zipper of his jeans.

"I want to be inside of you."

I moaned my acquiescence as I freed him from the restraint of his jeans. I pushed them down, my feet taking over the moment I couldn't reach any further. He stood tall and proud against me as our kiss grew deeper, I could feel him against the thin barrier of my panties as he thrust against me.

His fingers hooked into the soft material and I used his shoulders to give me leverage so he could pull them down my legs and be free of them. I pulled my legs out and let them drop to the floor, scooting to the edge of the dresser eagerly.

"Meg . . ."

"Tate," I groaned in reply, breaking our lips apart as I caught his amazing eyes.

He pushed forward in one swift movement filling me completely. The faint sound of everything on the dresser falling and scattering on the floor was lost to me as the fire took me over. His eyes seemed to swim thunderously with pleasure before closing as he lost himself in the moment. He was beautiful, and even when I closed my eyes I could see the liquid gold weaving around the blue burnt on the back of my eyelids.

My stomach fluttered useless as he rocked out and pushed in again. My fingers pushed into his shoulders as pleasure rocked me violently.

"Oh God," I whined, my head resting against his shoulder. The feeling just too good to contain in restless silence.

We found our rhythm easily, the push and the pull, the breathing and breathlessness. My hands slipped over the damp skin of his shoulders as our heated bodies beaded with sweat. The dance between us was complex, our bodies knowing what we wanted, the reacted to touch, to the feel. We fit.

He was getting close, I could feel it in the tension of his body as he pushed into me. I was already riding the line, my body responded to his easily, his touch, his lips, his breath was all sensory as it bathed my skin.

I lost my grip on his shoulders as he pulled me closer to the edge again. He tilted my hips, pushing deeper and harder. All I had to hold onto was the edge of the dresser, my sweaty palms sliding against the woodgrain as my head hit the wall behind me.

"Right there," I screamed as he struck gold. My body arched and convulsed as stars exploded behind my eyelids.

The dresser slammed against the wall as Tate pushed into me hard and came. My toes curled and pushed into his ass holding him against me as my breathless panting licked his skin. He collapsed against me, his heavy body pinning me a welcome weight.

"That was . . ."

"Uh huh," I sighed, my hand running through his hair.

"Why the fuck did we wait so long to do that?"

I laughed, I couldn't help myself. He pulled back with a half smile and grabbed at a towel that was sitting on the desk chair next to the dressed. He eyed me and I nodded, trying to hide my blush as he cleaned us up.

Tate dropped the towel to the floor, his strong arms closed around me as he lifted me from the surface of the dresser and carried me to the bed, collapsing with me in his arms.

"Will you stay?" I asked, tucking myself into his side as he pulled the blankets over our bodies.

"I'll do anything you want me to," he answered sleepily, his arm wrapping around my shoulders and pulling me to him.

I couldn't stop the smile curling my lips as I let my exhaustion roll over me in waves. Completely sated, I could barely remember my own name anyway so I let he darkness swallow me.

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Well that was kind of last minute and pitiful! I apologize . . . **To Be Continued . . .**

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!  
**


	13. Week 13: Fate's Hand

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

* * *

**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 13  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Both**  
Title: **Fate's Hand  
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_. . . Continued . . ._

_**NC-17** for Language!  
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I woke up in the embrace of Tate, his warm arms were curled around me, holding me close enough to feel the gentle thrum of his heart against my ear. We were tangled together in the sheets like we'd gravitated toward one another as we slept. I felt comfortable and satisfied in his arms. Like I was meant to be here. It felt natural.

The only problem was, right now I needed the bathroom.

I shifted my legs from under his as gently as I could without jostling the bed and waking him. The fine hairs that covered his legs tickled mine as I retracted them. He hummed gently under his breath as I escaped, his arm tightening around my waist possessively.

I paused. A smile forming on my lips as I watched him slip under the weight of sleep again. I wanted to lay there and watch him, feel his body as it rose and fell under my hands, but my stupid insistent bladder was making it impossible to lose myself in him.

It took me a second to loosen his grip on my waist. Every time I worked his hands free, he gripped me and pulled me closer again, his breathy sighs signifying the slight disturbance I had created.

Finally, my toes hit the floor and I managed to slide out in one swift motion. I walked toward the door, grabbing a t-shirt and pulling it over my head, all the while fighting the urge to look back at the man sleeping comfortably in my bed. Last night had been more amazing than I'd ever thought it could be. Sure, it had been a long time since I'd been with someone, but it had been so different with Tate, the need for him, the desire. It was like a living breathing animal clawing to get out, and the release had been more powerful than I thought I was capable of.

With a smile I slipped out of my bedroom and pulled the door closed behind me. Taking the deep breath I'd needed to take since I'd woken up. It wasn't until I heard the chirp of my phone in the living room that I noticed my purse strewn out across the floor. Had I really been that driven to get him into my room I hadn't noticed it slip from my grip?

As much as I wanted to see who had called, nature made me detour to the bathroom first.

The moment I had finished and washed my hands, I made my way to pick up the contents of my purse. i shoved everything inside and picked up my phone, waking it up to see who'd tried to call me.

I frowned.

Haden's name popped up with fourteen calls and six texts, starting from the moment we'd left the psychic's. Why had he been so desperate to get in touch with me?

I flipped open the top of my phone and scrolled through the texts, but none of them revealed what was so desperate. They only seemed to beg me to call him all the more. I went to voice mail, but all that uncovered was his desperate voice that grew into anger as the messages progressed.

Whatever he wanted, I knew I had to call him soon. The last call had only come in about twenty minutes prior. Sadly, I knew Tate's wake up call would have to wait.

Stepping into the bathroom again, I called Haden's number and held it to my ear, my foot tapping gently on the white tile as I perched on the edge of the tub. I just hoped this was as desperate as it seemed to be.

"Where the hell have you been?" Haden's voice said down the phone, his irritation evident.

"Asleep, jackass. Where you should have been. What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" he snapped, his voice distorted with anger. "I've been trying to call you since we left last night."

"I was busy, Hade."

The silence on the other end of the phone was profound. I played with the edge of the t-shirt I was wearing, waiting for him to say anything.

"Meg, did you . . . Did Tate? Please, tell me you're alone."

"I'm in the bathroom, so yeah I'm a lone right now. And as for Tate, that's none of your business."

"It is my business, Megan. I made a big fucking mess of things and . . . I wish I knew how to say this."

"Say what?"

"My words, last night. They cleared something up for me."

"Haden will you spit it out?"

"My words, Meg. I always knew but I ignored it. When they came out it made so much sense to me."

"Still not answering my question," I sighed in frustration.

"Friends, choice, close and love, Meg. Those were my words. They answered every question I have been asking myself for the last few months."

My heart froze in my chest. His words, his words had made him question everything. Why did one trip to a stupid psychic change everything? How could one quirky night out have made everything so complicated?

"You know the stupid thing is I knew already. When I saw you and Tate in the truck, I knew, Meg. I knew I had fucked everything up. I've been in love with you for years, but seeing you with someone else, seeing you in a situation like that, it ripped my chest open."

"You selfish, bastard," I spat, my heart hammering in my chest. Six months ago this was all I ever wanted out of life. This was everything I had ever hoped for. I wanted Haden to notice me, I wanted him to realize what he was missing, but it never happened. Even last nights reading form Harmony had been confusing. I never expected Tate to have to fight for me, and I honestly believed she'd got my reading completely wrong, but this is what it had come down to.

"What? Megan, I just wanted to tell you that I . . ."

"No," I snapped, cutting him off. "Haden don't do this to me. You're with Ava, I'm with Tate. I've been pining over you since I was twelve years old and now that I'm happy you want to fuck with my life?"

"No, I don't want to fuck with your life, I'm in love with you, Megan. You, and only you . . ."

I felt the phone slip from my hand but there was nothing I could do to stop it. Gravity took control and I watched helplessly as it bounced against the toilet seat and splashed into the water at the bottom of the basin. The gem design winked at me from under the curve of the bowl but I was helpless to move.

Anger and pain crashed down around me. My ears buzzed with the impossibility of the situation. It was typical, selfish Haden. He saw someone with something he thought belonged to him and he staked a claim, but this time he was too late. I had put so much effort in moving on that I had succeeded.

I pushed up from the tub and wobbled on my legs, stumbling toward the door. I pulled it open and slipped through it, ignoring everything but the need to make it to my door. I fell into my room as quietly as I could, but Tate was already awake, sat on my bed with the stupid plastic dinosaur I had kept from when I met Haden. It was the thing he'd been playing with with my gum got suck in his hair.

I could tell he'd overheard part of my conversation. He was sat in his underwear looking torn. I needed his eyes to find mine. I needed him to see me so he would understand what I was feeling, what I was thinking.

"How much did you hear?" I asked, stepping further into the room.

"Not much," he shrugged. His eyes still on the stupid plastic toy.

"Look at me, Tate."

He didn't, his soulful eyes were trained on the dinosaur. I needed him to look at me so he would know what I was about to say was everything I was feeling. So he would know it was nothing but the truth.

I stepped into the space between his legs and placed my hands on his shoulders. "Please look at me."

I crouched in front of him and waited patiently as he seemed to fight himself on the decision. I begged for him to listen to me, I begged for the sky blue and amber to turn to me.

"Please," I whispered, one of my hands caressing his cheek gently.

It felt like a lifetime waiting for him to comply. Finally, after long agonizing minutes of wondering, his head turned, his eyes catching mine. I fell into the pools, the amber like gold leaf dancing around the inky black of his pupils. Sadness seemed to emanate from him as he drank me in.

"I understand," he said, his voice soft, but full of the pain he was trying to hide. "You loved him long before you met me."

"Yeah well," I sighed, cradling his other cheek with my free hand. "There's a slight complication with that theory."

"Megan," his voice was full of pleading but I needed him to let me finish.

"Tate, I'm in love with you. Every part of my heart and soul belongs to you. I thought I loved Haden, I can't lie to you about that. But it's nothing to how I feel about you. I thought this would be so difficult. When I met you that night in the woods, you were the only person to ever interest me enough to pull me away from him. I didn't know what that meant then, but I knew it meant _something_. Last night, when we talked about that stupid psychic and her words, I thought about the only choice I would ever have to make and I knew the answer. You never had to fight, Tate, because I was already yours. My choice was already made up in the hypothetical situation. I'm sorry you had to hear that conversation, and I'm sorry I never got to finish it, but I am telling you the truth. I love _you_, Tate."

"Dammit," he smiled gently, his hands now gripping my face. "And I thought is was my amazing talents in the sack would win you over."

"There's that too," I smirked, my tongue sweeping my bottom lip.

"I love you too, Meg. I thought it was too soon, I never for a second thought you felt the same way."

"Well, you were wrong."

I laughed and sprang to my feet, pushing him back on the bed with my body. My lips found his easily as his hands slid up my t-shirt, relieving me of it's burden.

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Well I think that's it for Megan and the Gang! _**Fini**_

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!  
**


	14. Week 14: What Not to Do

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . their mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post it on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

* * *

**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 14  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 2**  
Title: **What Not to Do . . .****  
**

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The Cure's lullaby was blaring through the house. The haunting tune bouncing from the walls as Rosalie gently swayed on her feet to the rhythm. It was rare we had the house to ourselves, but this once we didn't need to hunt like the rest of the family so we were able to have the abode to ourselves and do as we pleased.

As always Rose and I were adorned with the decade's fashion, even if it wasn't as flattering as the flowing dresses of the sixties or the hippy simplicity of the seventies. We'd skipped the punk look then but here we were now, in the middle of England wearing Doc Marten's and Parka's like we'd been born in the right era.

It was overcast outside, and yet, we were still stuck inside with nothing to do but sway to the dulcet tones of Robert Smith.

"I'm getting bored, Al," Rosalie sang falling into the plush couch next to me. Carlisle had bought this manor house sometime in the eighteen hundreds, but Esme had been having a ball updating it. It was practically in the middle of nowhere in the Yorkshire Dales because poor Jasper still had the taste for blood and we were being careful. The last thing we needed was the neighbors and their foxhounds barreling over our land and becoming the pray.

"Well, What do you want to do?"

"Let's take one of the cars and go into Blackpool, we could be there and back before everyone gets home. They went to the highlands anyway. Please Al," she whined, making the one syllable of my nickname draw out. She turned and gave me her best puppy dog look to go with it. "Please, please, please?"

"What do I look like," I demanded feigning annoyance. "The responsible one?"

Rosalie broke into a smile but paused as though she were waiting for something more.

"What?"

"We just made a decision, are you getting of that precog mumbly jumbly?"

"That's real technical, Rose, and no. Not a thing."

"Excellent. Let's go to the place we went to see The Beatles. You know the big warehouse place called the pit."

"Do you forget that I have the same infallible memory that you do? Or do you do it just to mess with me?"

"Hmm considering I could pick out how contradictory that first statement is, I would go with the latter."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a set of keys as we passed through the ancient stone foyer of the house. It was really the only place Esme left in its original form. It's medieval feel sometime made me shiver, but I couldn't deny how much I loved it. When we'd first moved into the house I couldn't help but run my hand over the rises and falls of the steel gray rock and wonder how much more it had seen. In all honesty, I think only Carlisle was close to the age it.

Rosalie hated driving here, mainly because she always ended up on the wrong side of the road on a narrow country lane. She was studying the mechanics of cars, but still felt completely off balance on the wrong side of the car. Being the medical he was, Carlisle had explained that it was all in her head, but for the life of her she could never get it right.

We climbed into the red TVR Roadster and buckled ourselves in. It was my favorite car of the collection we had, it drew far too much attention to us but it wasn't like there was anyone around to reprimand me.

"You sure you wanna do this?" I asked grinning. "You remember what happened the last time right?"

"Yeah, I remember, but it's not like Emmett's here. He was the one that tried to plug the American cord into the English switch and plunged the place into darkness."

I giggled at the memory. Though it really hadn't been funny at the time. Hundred of screaming fans seemed to turn into hooligans as they searched for the culprit. Thankfully in the dark we'd been able to move quickly through the throngs of people to the other side of the warehouse so we wouldn't be implicated. It had been Emmett's move but it hadn't been the accident he'd said it was. Edward had heard his thoughts. He had been upset about Rosalie's fascination with George Harrison and I'd seen a flicker of his plan seconds before he'd done it and had no time to stop him.

Not that I was going to bring that up now.

The cool country air swept through the car as we barreled toward the bright lights of Blackpool and the amusements it had to offer. It was easy to tell when we drew near, I could easily smell the brine from the water, and the sound of the waves lapping against the shore was a roar in my ears.

"Oh no," Rosalie shouted as I pulled around one of the corners. "That just sucks. Look at that."

I pulled the car to a stop at the edge of road next to the metal fence up around the building and climbed out. We scaled the fence and hung off looking dejected at the building that sat condemned in front of us. Rosalie bent her knees and hung down low as I peeked over the top.

"All those memories and they're going to tear the place down."

"I know," I sighed, bouncing on the metal, which I could easily scale if the need arose. "You'd think with the history of it, it would be some kind of national monument or something."

"It looks so . . ."

"Run down?" I offered, bouncing against the fence making the chain link sing out against the gray afternoon light."

"Yeah, it's so indescript. Looking at it you wouldn't think about the huge setting inside. It looks like a normal boring warehouse."

"It really does. You wanna go in?" I challenged looking around. "You know, to see if there's anything inside?"

Rosalie's face looked up at mine as I looked down at her and shrugged.

"Move the car first. The last thing we need is people seeing that parked right outside. It's literally a red flag."

"Done. Stay here and hide if anyone comes. I'll come back through the forest."

I jump easily from the fence and danced toward the car. The car was parked a mile away and I was stood next to Rosalie all within five minutes. She was stood under a tree that bled into the small park where I'd parked. I'd used the trees for cover as I sprinted back toward her. She already looked bored, but rose was never one for waiting.

"Finally, what took you so long?"

"There were kids playing in the park, I had to be careful, there were big gaping patches with no trees."

"Fine. Let's do this."

We sprinted toward the fence and scaled hopped over as though it were merely to our calves, and raced toward the entrance. Rosalie's long legs carried her quickly, but I kept up with her easily as we weaved around the trash that was piled around the place.

Our boots skidded in the dust around the entrance as we came to a stop make them sprinkle into the air like dust motes.

"I so kicked your ass," Rosalie grinned, gripping the handle and pushing. It groaned against her strength but gave way easily letting us slip inside.

"Did not, and you have the advantage of having legs up to your ears. So what's your excuse?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes and pushed the door closed behind us. Darkness enveloped the place, it was nothing to our eyes, which compensated for the darkness, but it didn't stop the haunted feeling that came with it.

"They gutted the place, Al."

Rosalie took off through the open space at top speed, her pale hair falling behind her with her speed. I took my time stepping slowly into the small piles of debris left behind in the dismantling of what had been here.

It was easy to tell how the place had fallen into ruin. The small of alcohol and cigarette smoke hung in the air. Sweat and faint traces if blood mingling with it. It had been made into a night club.

"Do you smell that?" Rosalie called, her head falling back on her shoulders and her arms stretching out. "It smells like a good party."

I took two more steps inside and the smell of alcohol drained out everything else. I tried to clear my mind and stop breathing but as I did, something flickered in the back of my mind. Drowning out Rosalie's exclamation of: "Alice!"

Grey clouds of dust consumed my vision as a loud ringing made beats of vibrations through the air. Everything shook violently heavy parts of the building fell around me as I shuddered.

A demolition. There were taking down the building today and the decision had just been made to do it.

"Alice, run. There's explosives everywhere."

Rosalie grabbed my arm as she sprinted past me, bringing me out of the spell I'd been under. Neither of us held back as we sprinted to the door. Our bodies all muscle and power pushed toward the fresh air as the sound of the charge came to life in the building. We had seconds.

We fell through the wood – hearing the splinters and chard hitting the ground behind us as we moved – and made our way to the fence, instinct making our speed almost double. We leaped over the fence and rolled in our landing, both of us sprang like cats onto our two legs as we moved into the safety of the trees.

"Let's go inside," Rosalie laughed hysterically pushing a little harder. "See if there's anything in there."

"Shut up, I didn't see you complaining," I snorted, my arms floating out to my sides as I ran. "It smells like a good party."

Rosalie pushed me playfully, her eyes alive with excitement. "Who am I kidding, that was the most fun I've had with my clothes on in a while. Emmett's going to be pissed he missed it!"

"Jasper is going to be pissed I did it," I laughed feeling lighter. "Who cares, it was an adventure."

"The first of many I hope," Rosalie teased taking the lead.

I smiled as I followed, darting through the trees. Rose and I had always been good friends, but this had brought us closer. This had been an experience for us to bond over and like she'd said herself, I hoped it would be the first of many.

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!  
**


	15. Week 15: Between The Stacks

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . they're mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post is on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

* * *

**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 15  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 2**  
Title: **Between The Stacks**

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**I was running late. Later than I had intended to be. Sure there was the whole fashionably late but I was even getting past that. I was heading into the unforgivably late territory.

"You and the library? I wasn't aware you knew the city had one," Bella teased. She was curled up on the couch with a book open across her legs, and her cat Satan lounging across the back behind her, his long black tail flicking against her shoulder.

"Ha ha, I wasn't aware you had a sense of humor."

"Don't be sore, Al. It's just not your typical hideout," Bella amended. I knew I'd been a little harsh with my retort but I hated being late for anything when it came down to my job.

"I'm not, I just have to be there to meet a co-worker. We would have done it at the office but their fumigating or some crap, which means we have to depend on the city library to have the books we need. It's a huge mess."

"This the deposition you were working on?"

I nodded in response as I ducked under the coffee table looking for the elusive shoe. I had it's counterpart gripped in my hand, but the other was refusing to be found. This was the only pair that matched my outfit but if I didn't find it soon I would have to grab another pair and head out like a fashion disaster.

"Have you tried the bathroom?"

"Why the hell would it be in the bathroom?" I asked quirking an eyebrow.

"Simple method of deduction," she countered with a smirk. "The last time you wore those we were at McGinty's. If I remember correctly you stumbled in and in the process of taking off your shoes decided your bladder would explode if you didn't go immediately."

Sounded like me.

I skipped to the bathroom and kicked around the towels strewn around the floor. For a pair of girls we were slobs. Bella's boyfriend Edward was constantly making fun of us for it. Not that I blamed him, it was kind of horrific at times.

My toe hit gold and I kicked the pile away from the shoe I'd been searching for.

"Bella Swan I owe you a beer," I called, dancing from the room and swinging the shoe in front of me. I swooped down to pick the other up and slid them onto my feet. "Right, I'm outta here. Love you."

"Love you back, bring some Chinese food home with you if you get out before ten."

"Will do," I sang grabbing my purse and swinging the door open.

Thirty minutes later and I was hot as a bull seeing red. The fucking incompetent cabby seemed as clueless as I did about the library, even if I did give him the right address.

"You said Main, lady."

"No, you crazy bastard, I said Market."

"You said Main. That's seventeen eighty-four."

"Are you fucking insane? Eighteen bucks to go six blocks?"

"I don't decide the rate, lady, I just read the damn meter," he argued, his eyebrows raised as he held out his hand. "The right address would have been a lot cheaper."

"What. Ever."

I slapped a twenty in his hand, and narrowed my eyes at him when he looked like he was going to argue. I always tipped the cabbies well, I knew how it went, you treat them well, they treat you well. But this jackass was not getting another dime from me. He'd taken me plum across town to Main Street so my fare was twice what it should have been.

Six blocks had ended up being sixteen. Now I was even later.

I marched up the steps to the front of the library and pulled the door open. The smell of books hit me like a dead weight almost knocking me to my ass. It was easy to understand Bella's fascination with books when this was the impression you were hit with. This wasn't one of those big chain bookstores with the smell of coffee making the books smell stale. This was the library.

I walked across the foyer, the clack of my heels sounding like thunder against the muted hum of the lights and distant voices. It wasn't like our old school library where the librarian yelled "Shh" at you in hopes that you would stop yakking about Ryan Reynolds and his tight ass. This was more the need for silence because of respect.

I pushed up on the balls of my feet a little more until I made it to the carpet. To make things easier for myself I could have looked at the map thing that was in the front lobby, but that was much too logical for me. Nope, I just marched on in there and decided I would find it by divine intervention.

Apparently, I was wrong.

The high shelves I found myself in were like a never ending maze. I couldn't see anything as I weaved through them, if I was being honest I was starting to panic. Every corner I took I was met with another wall of books with thin white strips at the bottom of the spines. I topped midway and leaned against a shelf, my breathing more elevated than normal due to the ever increasing fear mingling with the irritation at being even later than I already was.

"You look lost."

I jumped and yelped landing with a stumble. I steadied myself with a hand on my chest and one on the shelves. I looked around for the voice but found no one.

"Up here," said the voice, the humor evident.

I raised my eyes and saw a pair of black soles with black hair peeking over the top.

"You scared the shit out of me," I hissed, backing up a little so I could see the face the hair belonged to.

"Not my intention. I've been watching you weaving in and out of the stacks and figured you look good and lost. I'm guessing you're not a regular," he smirked, the book open in his hands was hovering over his legs.

"What the hell are you even doing up there?"

"I'm on my break," he replied, leaning forward a little more so his face was revealed. "Working here has it's benefits."

I was taken aback by his features as he leaned forward a little more. His large brown eyes and full lips were framed by a strong jaw and high cheek bones. He was gorgeous, and even with only a sliver of his shoulders visible I could see he was build. The chords of muscles in his neck were strained by the position he was in.

"So I see. I was supposed to meet a co-worker here to work on a deposition, our law offices are closed to us at the moment so we had to meet here, but I am lost and late. Could you point me in the right direction?"

His eyes sparkled with mischief as he assessed me and my situation. Handsome wasn't the word for this guy and I drank in the curve of his lips as he thought about the question. It should have annoyed me that he was taking so long to answer, but I couldn't take my eyes off him long enough to form a coherent thought.

"I'm on my break," he chuckled, lifting the book up to cover his features again. Without his face to distract me I came back to my senses.

"So you said. That doesn't mean you can't lift your arm and point."

"My hands are full," he said defiantly. Unfortunately, I could here the humor. I was his break time entertainment.

"Your an ass," I declared, and marched away with my head held high. I got three stacks over before I heard a gentle padding of soles against the shelves above me.

I stopped as soon as long legs appeared from the top of the shelves and nimbly scaled down to the floor.

The guy was huge, way over six foot, I craned my neck to look up at the smiling face above me. He was more handsome than I'd realized and his upper body was Wide and thick under his polo, even the arms seemed to stretch around his biceps in appreciation. He certainly wasn't the type you'd expect to see working in a library, but then it wasn't as though I frequented libraries so how would I know?

"I'm back on the clock, how can I help you?"

"Law section," I snapped, my hands on my hips. His ruggedly handsome looks may have distracted me once, but that was the last time it was going to happen.

"Certainly. If you'll just follow me I'll take you there."

"I would say thank you, but you're a jerk."

"Wow, good to see you have a sense of humor," he grinned, winking at me. "How bout I take you out to coffee and show you that I'm not really an asshole?"

"You stun me with your charm," I dead panned. "Could you just get me out of this maze?"

"Not until you say yes."

"Never. Gonna. Happen."

I marched past him, rolling my eyes at myself as I noticed how good he smelled. I wasn't sure if it was aftershave or just him, but it made my mouth water. I took another turn and felt him follow behind me, hanging back as he hummed out a tune.

"Tell me," I said calling over my shoulder. "How have you kept a job here for so long with that attitude of yours?"

"I don't think you understand, I am one of their best employee's. Seriously though, come have coffee with me. After you've finished your work."

"And if I say no?"

"I'll take you where you need to go. I'm not desperate, and I'd rather you made your own choice. Bribes aside."

"I'm not worth the effort?" I teased, slowing so we were walking side by side.

"I never said that I'd give up, I just said no bribes."

I laughed, a genuine laugh that no guy had been able to get out of me in a while.

"You're persistent, I like that in a guy. So how about you take me where I need to go and we go grab something to eat when I'm done?"

"Perfect," he grinned. "What's your name?"

"Alice Brandon, and yours?"

"Jacob, Jacob Black."

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!  
**


	16. Week 16: Waiting For The Moon

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. The images belong to the people that took and produced them, and the words . . . they're mine ;)

_A/N: As I'm sure you read in the Summary this is for the blog Picprompt challenge. Each week we get to pics to choose from or both and then we write a oneshot, no limits on how big or small and post is on the days chosen. I have Thursdays so *waves* Hello there! I will be posting here as well as on the blog each week. If your interested the address is (picprompt. blogspot. com). If you would like to join us . . . feel free to email me email addy on blog :)_

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**PICTURE PROMPT CHALLENGE: WEEK 16  
**Nostalgicmiss' Choice: **Picture 2**  
Title: **Waiting For The Moon  
**

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**I was stood naked in front of the mirror, looking at my new body with open eyes. He'd promised me beautiful, but the curves of my body the vibrancy of my tattoo's frozen against my pale skin was more than I'd ever expected. It almost made the pain worth it.

I'd always been a little sadistic, I'd found pleasure in pain, sought it out and let the stinging, burning and aching mingle with my body, but my favorite had always been pain during sex. The echo of it through my body as the euphoria of release made my skin vibrate in a million points of pure ecstasy made the feeling so much more intense.

I think people called that sexual deviancy.

Like I cared.

I had just been offered the most amazing opportunity. Riley had offered me immortality.

The best part about it, I got to keep the love of my life. We were a two-for-one deal, and Riley seemed almost pleased by this before he took us to her. Her scarlet eyes and fire red hair had made her alabaster skin seem like porcelain. She was anything but fragile though, the moment her body gripped mine, and her teeth sank neatly into my neck, I couldn't stop my fingers from reaching to her hairline and working through the red corkscrew curls. She may have looked like porcelain, but her skin was as cold and impenetrable as marble to the touch.

Dan watched with lust filled eyes as she drained my body close to death. I could feel my heart slowing as she drank deep, taking long draws of my life into her mouth. I could see he was turned on, I could see he wanted the chance to be brought to the brink of death as I had.

She released me and took a step toward Dan, I tried to stay on my feet, I tried to watch as the color drained from his skin, but the pain was instantaneous. Fire ran through my veins with fury. My body arched and shuddered as the white hot pain drove toward my heart.

I fell to the bed without conscious and twisted in pain, my fingers clung to the sheets as death charged toward my lifeforce. Riley's eyes looked away from me, remorse flickering briefly through the crimson pupils. He'd said there would be pain, and he'd delivered. This was the ultimate pain, the end of everything. This was death with a vengeance, a beast with heated branding irons for claws trying to escape from the inside.

I was aware of Dan's body falling beside mine, but I couldn't focus on his screams, the pain was too intense in my own as it weaved through my body, making even the follicles of my hair ache with the effort of simply being.

The pain seemed to last forever, the burning intensifying in rolls as it moved through my body. I'd thought I would pass out from it, but I was aware of everything, my eyes rolling as a new wave took control of my body.

When my heart finally stopped I expected an ache from the constant tension of my muscles. It had been at least three days of consistent pain, I was aware of the dim light moving into inky blackness, the cries of my love beside me, the rest of me was consumed by my own fire. But I felt nothing but strength in my own body. I could smell something I knew was beyond the walls, I could hear the traffic I knew must be at least four miles away.

My eyes fluttered open to an array of colors. It was the fading light outside the window casting a million colors I couldn't place or name. I stayed away from the fading light that seeped through a crack in the heavy curtains. Riley had warned us about the sun, but I sensed it would be gone soon. I wasn't sure how I knew, it was another thing that simply was.

My next movement had been to the mirror that extended across the eastern wall of the room. My magnificent body was on display now I had peeled the soft tattered cotton from my body.

"Look at you, Sophie," Dan said quietly, his voice like music as his eyes drank in my nakedness. He peeled away the tattered remains of his own clothes before stepping in front of me and pulling me into his arms.

"Look at you," I countered, my eyes finding the gentle glow of his skin mesmerizing. Prisms of light seemed to bounce from his abs in the dim glow. The burning in my throat was intensifying by the second, it was all encompassing but it didn't take away from the feel of his body against mine. I wasn't sure what I wanted more. Him or to feed the fire that was white hot embers waiting to be extinguished.

"It's still light out," he murmured, as though his thoughts were along the same path as my own. "Wanna waste some time?"

I felt each of the muscles in my face twist as I smiled up at him. A new life, a new outlook and a need for something pushing me along. Riley had said we would need to hunt before the red head had started, but we couldn't go out in the daylight.

So many thoughts passed through my mind as I tried to decipher what I wanted. Then Dan's fingers ghosted over my skin bringing a sensual feeling to the forefront of my mind. We had time to waste, and I could think of no better way to waste it than with him.

This was going to be fun.

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**A/N: As always a huge thanks to the girls on the blog. And thanks to all of you who review! You're all awesome!  
**


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